A Complicated Relationship
by girlycathy
Summary: DISCONTINUED; TO BE REWRITTEN - THE LAST CHAPTER EXPLAINS WHY. I DO NOT OWN MYSTERY ROOM OR ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS. This is "Mystery Room Fanfiction" rewritten. This duo faces constant obstacles in their journey to happiness (so cliché, right?). Rated K for some graphic violence and cussing. Also I do not own this OC - queen . city . quinn does (no spaces).
1. Beforehand Notes

As you may or may not have previously seen, I wrote "Mystery Room Fanfiction", but as of late decided it really had nothing to go on, and posted that I will be rewriting it. This (as you can see) is the rewritten version.

My cover picture is one I found on Tumblr, cuz I couldn't find my original picture (haha).

Basically, I'm restarting the story, but it'll be altered with the underlying storyline to be what continues this story.

Again, I thank you for your support through my story, it is very much appreciated.


	2. New Girl

_OMFG I CAN'T BELIEVE_

_I'M SO SORRY_

_I meant to post this yesterday but I just never got around to it! So so sorry!_

_I'll stop yapping so you can get on to reading XD_

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

1: New Girl

* * *

_*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*_

"I'll get it!" Lucy jumped up from her seat on the floor where she had been examining evidence for their current case. "'Ello?"

"Who is this?" The voice on the other end was that of a girl, a teenager by the sound of it.

"Lucy Baker, of t' Mystery Room. Who are you?"

"No one important. Not to you, anyways," she replied rudely. "Is Ally there?"

"Ally?" Alfendi stopped his work upon hearing the name.

"Um, yeah. Alfendi. Alfendi Layton."

"Oh, one second."

The girl sighed sarcastically, as if she were rolling her eyes.

Lucy pretended not to hear the girl as she passed the phone to Alfendi, saying, "There's a girl on the phone who wants to talk to you." Then she whispered with a smirk, "Ally."

Upon seeing her smirk, he switched to his Potty side, snapping, "Shut up!" before standing up and taking the phone from her hand.

"What do you want?!" he demanded into the phone. Lucy walked back to the space on the floor in the center of her circle of evidence, trying not to eavesdrop on the increasingly loud conversations a few feet to her left. Unfortunately, her curiosity about the girl on the phone got the better of her, and she found herself listening as closely as she could. Luckily for her, Alfendi was turned towards the wall away from her, and didn't notice that she wasn't actually working.

"Why am I only hearing about this now?! ... Well he didn't!" _Who didn't what?_ Lucy wondered.

"... So what?! ... Well whatever, but you can't stay with me, just find a hotel or something, I don't care!" _So the girl wants to stay with 'im?_

"... But you have the money for the flight?!" _She must live far, flights are more expensive the farther they go, and going off t' Prof's tone..._

"... Of course he did. ... What else did you expect?!" _What?_

"... How are you getting to my apartment?! ... Do you even know how far it is?! ... It's too far to walk!" _Too far from where?_

"... Fine, then how are you getting into my apartment?! ... You'd better not, or I'll cut off all your fingers!" _She'd better not what?_

"... It'll be too late, you'll freeze to death in this weather, it's pouring outside! I assumed you'd realised. ... No! ... I've never needed one!" _What?_

"... I suggest you not come! ... Ugh, fine! I'll just pick you up at the airport and drive you! When's the flight landing? ... 4:00? That's in two hours! ... Fine. I'll be waiting. Next time, give me a notice or something! ... Whatever, goodbye!"

He hung up the phone quickly, slamming it in place before dropping into his desk chair.

"What were that about?" Lucy asked.

"It's nothing."

"It sure didn't sound like nowt."

"Well it is!" Potty Prof barked, ending the conversation.

"Alright..." she trailed before returning to the evidence and case file.

An hour later, Alfendi stopped working on the case and stood up. "I have to go now," he said, slipping on his blue coat and checking the pocket for his car keys. "Can you lock up later?"

"Aye. Who called earlier?"

"No one important." _Isn't that what the girl said?_ Lucy thought.

"Who-" Lucy began as the door banged shut. Then she returned to the case file, looking for the murder weapon.

* * *

_Alright, short short short first chapter, but the next ones won't be as such, they'll each vary._

_Love you guys!_

_Again, sorry for the extra day wait! I'll be posting again on the 15th, 14th if I can to make up!_

_The schedule I'm aiming for is every 1st and 15th of the month. Also, I need title ideas, so if you guys have any, PM me or comment your ideas, and I'll take them into consideration! The title I've got is one I thought of a few weeks ago, just something off the top of my head. Thanks~_

_~girlycathy~_


	3. Deirdre

_So here's your next chapter. I don't own the OC Deirdre, queen . city . quinn (no spaces) from Fanfiction does. I loved her idea and am borrowing the OC for my story (cuz I'm not creative enough to make my own XD)_

_Sorry 'bout the late update -it was really late last night and I can't post from mobile._

_But at least it's a longer chapter than before!_

_Enjoy the chapter!_

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

2: Deirdre

* * *

_Previously:_

_"I have to go now," he said, slipping on his blue coat and checking the pocket for his car keys. "Can you lock up later?"_

_"Aye. Who called earlier?"_

_"No one important." Isn't that what the girl said? Lucy thought._

_"Who-" Lucy began as the door banged shut. Then she returned to the case file, looking for the murder weapon._

* * *

The next day, Lucy came to the Mystery Room, late as usual, but this morning there was a girl with crimson-coloured hair wearing black combat boots, dark jeans, a forest green hooded half-sleeved shirt, and fingerless black gloves walking up to the door. Oblivious to her, Lucy came sprinting in and ran into her, the two of them stumbling.

"What the hell?!" the girl yelled, shoving Lucy away from her. "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The two of them entered the room, and Lucy, too caught up in having run into the girl, hadn't noticed the similarities between her and Potty Prof, who was also currently in the room.

"Deirdre?!"

"Hey, Ally," she smirked.

"What are you doing here?! I told you to stay at the apartment!"

"There's nothing to do there," the crimson-haired girl replied simply, using a hand to brush her long hair out of her face before placing both at her hips.

"How did you even get here?!"

She scoffed, "How do you _think_ I got here?"

"Wait," Lucy cut in, "who are you?"

"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered, rolling her eyes, before turning around, looking over the brunette. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm-"

"Lucy, the chick from the phone yesterday and the assistant for Ally."

"'Ow'd you know I'm the assistant?"

"Because you're _here_, you're used to _him_, and only the _assistant_ answers the phone," she remarked snidely with a smirk.

"Why are you even here, Deirdre?!" Alfendi repeated.

"I _told_ you, Ally," she emphasized dramatically, turning around. "It's boring at your apartment, and there's nothing to do in London. God, this room is full of stupid people," she answered, muttering the last bit under her breath.

"You are so overdramatic! What about your stupid job interview?!"

"It's _not_ stupid, and it's not today. I _told_ you, it's the day after tomorrow-"

"So why are you _here_?! Why not somewhere else?!"

"There's nothing to do anywhere! At least here, I can do something useful."

"Deirdre, 'ow do you know t' Prof?" Lucy asked.

Deirdre whipped around, her long bangs falling in her fiery eyes intimidatingly. "'Prof'?" she clarified, her arms by her sides.

"Aye," Lucy replied, confused.

"Deirdre-" Alfendi warned.

She ignored him, continuing on and becoming more and more irritated, "'Prof' like 'Professor', right?"

Lucy didn't know what to say, but answered, "I guess..."

She scoffed, turning to Alfendi. "What I thought, _bitch_," she shot back over her shoulder. Then she turned back to her brother, "I can't believe you!"

"What did I do?!" he demanded.

"You're letting her call you that!"

"What does it matter to you?!"

"It reminds me of him, of how _you're_ turning into _him_!" she shouted spitefully.

"I am not!"

"Well you are! Even she thinks so!" Deirdre screamed, gesturing back to Lucy.

"I'm not!"

"You moved back to London!"

"So?!"

"You left me there _alone_! For a stupid job!"

"A job I needed!"

She glared back at him harder than before, letting out a frustrated scream as her hands clenched into fists, shouting, "You know what?! You're more like him than I realised!"

With that, she stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut and enclosing the thick tension-filled room.

"Prof, what were that about?" Lucy asked. "And why does she 'ave such a problem with me calling you 'Prof'?"

"It's...," he sighed, running his hand through his faded hair, "complicated. I should go find her."

He grabbed his blue coat and started towards the door, turning to Lucy with his hand on the door handle.

"I'll stay 'ere and keep working on the case," she answered.

Alfendi left the building, and as he walked outside, he glanced around before knowing where she would go in an attempt to get as far away from him as possible.

Crossing the street and turning the next corner, he caught a glimpse of crimson hair as she whipped around away from him and began walking.

"Deirdre!"

She ignored him, continuing to walk away.

"Deirdre, stop!"

"You can't tell me what to do! You're not Dad, no matter how much you want to be!" she shouted back while continuing to walk.

The statement caused Alfendi to switch to his Potty side and he ran to catch up to her.

"Go away, Ally!" she demanded upon seeing him, not stopping.

"Deirdre, listen-"

"No, you listen, Ally!" She stopped and turned to him, seething. "You're turning into Dad more than you know, and I hate it! I don't want to deal with shit right now, so would you just leave me alone and stop following me?!" She whipped around and began walking until a hand wrapped around her right gloved wrist, stopping her. "Let go of me!" she commanded, trying to yank her arm away as sharp pains shot through her wrist.

"No, Deirdre, because if I leave you to die on the streets, Dad's going to hold me responsible and I don't want to be lectured on how I should've taken care of you!" he retorted.

"You don't want to cross me, Ally, let me go _right now_!"

His grip only tightened, and she glared back at him.

"_Ally_, let me _go_!"

"Deirdre-"

"Let _go_ of me!"

"Just listen!" Alfendi snapped. "I'm not _trying_ to be Dad, and I don't _want_ to be dad!"

"Why did you leave me?!" she demanded bitterly.

"I didn't want to-"

"But you did anyways! You left me alone, you _abandoned_ me!" she shot back through clenched teeth, glaring though her eyes that began to burn with tears she blinked away.

"I needed a job! We were running out of money!"

"And why did I have to stay there?! Do you even _know_ what happened after you left?!"

"Deirdre, just-" he loosened his grip on her wrist, and she yanked free, not moving her glare, "just come back to the Mystery Room with me."

"Why should I?!" she demanded.

"Fine then! Be stubborn, stay here, see if I care when you get lost!" he shouted, frustrated with her attitude as he stormed back to the Mystery Room.

Deirdre turned back and began walking anywhere away from Alfendi, angry and upset from the argument.

Lucy had glanced out the Mystery Room window after almost forty-five minutes had passed to see Alfendi with crimson hair storming back across the street.

She returned back to the case file for him to slam the door open and shut, shattering the previous silence.

He dropped in his desk chair, groaning in frustration, "She's so infuriating!"

Lucy asked cautiously, "What 'appened?"

"Other than her being such a bloody brat? Nothing." He sighed, switching back to Placid. "Let's get back to the case. What did you find?" he asked, changing the topic.

* * *

_Soooo...anyone wondering who this chick is? Unless you've already read queen . city . quinn's story (no spaces in her username)._

_The next update will be the 1st of...next month. Whatever month that may be. Apologies, but I can't think straight right now._

_~girlycathy~_


	4. Arguments

3: Arguments

* * *

_Previously:_

_Lucy had glanced out the Mystery Room window after almost forty-five minutes had passed to see Alfendi with crimson hair storming back across the street._

_She returned back to the case file for him to slam the door open and shut, shattering the previous silence._

_He dropped in his desk chair, groaning in frustration, "She's so infuriating!"_

_Lucy asked cautiously, "What 'appened?"_

_"Other than her being such a bloody brat? Nothing." He sighed, switching back to Placid. "Let's get back to the case. What did you find?" he asked, changing the topic._

* * *

Just before midday, Deirdre was completely lost in the city she grew up in. She pulled out her cell phone, the only possession she had on her. She stared at the half-full battery life, slowly draining along with her energy level in the chilling wind.

_Ugh, it's the middle of January, and it's freezing out here!_

She ran her hands through her hair and let out a frustrated scream when it began to rain.

"Are you fricking _kidding_ me right now?!"

After a couple hours of working in silence, it was really bugging Lucy. "Prof?"

"Yes?" Alfendi replied, not looking up from his work.

"Who's Deirdre?"

Alfendi sighed. He knew she wouldn't be able to contain her curiosity long. "Can we discuss this later? At least when the case is-"

_*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*_

"What now?" He stood up and picked up the phone. "... What do you want?!" he demanded, having switched personalities. "No, I will not! ... She's not my responsibility, she's the one who got herself lost! ... What are you talking about?! ... She's lying! ... Why should I care?! ... So?! ... If you're so worried about her, pick her up yourself! ... Well then she deserves it!" He slammed the phone into the receiver before it bounced back from the force, dangling by the cord as Alfendi dropped back into his chair, once again infuriated as he returned to the case file.

"Who were that?" Lucy asked.

"No one," Alfendi replied curtly.

After a few minutes, the phone began ringing again, but he didn't move.

"I'll get it 'en," Lucy told him, walking over. "'Ello?"

"Can I t-talk to Ally?" Deirdre asked, her teeth chattering and her voice cracking as if she had been crying.

Lucy covered the receiver with her hand, saying to Alfendi, "Deirdre wants to talk to you."

"I'm not talking to her," he answered, not looking up.

Lucy put the phone up to her ear again. "'E says he's not going to talk to you."

"But I-I need a ride b-back and Dad just c-called and said he won't..."

She turned back to Alfendi. "Prof, she says she needs a ride."

"She can find her own damn ride."

"It's pouring outside."

"So?"

"So there'll hardly be any taxis out."

"So she can learn to walk."

"Prof-"

"She can figure it out on her own, she's not that idiotic!"

Lucy sighed, returning to the phone. "'E says you can figure it out..."

"I tried...it's freezing out here a-and I don't know w-what to do or where I a-am..." She sounded as if she was about to cry. From the helpless tone of her voice, Lucy felt sorry for her.

"What're you around?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone as Deirdre glanced around. "I-I'm in an alleyway, and t-the buildings on either s-side are just closed restaurants."

"Oh! I know where that is!"

"Really?" Her voice lit up, hopeful for another way out of the rain. "Can you c-come pick me up then?"

"Sure, just wait ten minutes, it's not that far."

"Okay, thank you!"

"It's nowt." Then Lucy turned to Alfendi, having hung up the phone. "I'm going to go-"

"I heard."

"Okay, I'll be back soon." She picked up her bag and left the Mystery Room.

Lucy arrived to see Deirdre sitting on the sidewalk against a wall soaked in rainwater, her sopping hood doing her no good over her hair, makeup smeared across her face, eyes and cheeks red under her dark crimson hair.

"Oh my G-God, thank you s-so much for coming!" Deirdre shivered as she rushed to the car, jumping in the backseat. "It's _freezing_ out here!"

"I can see tha'," Lucy laughed, though expecting an insult back her way.

Deirdre glanced at the window and replied with a laugh, "I know, the glass is totally icy!" Then she quickly buckled her seatbelt and stared out the window at the scenery, surprising Lucy.

After a few minutes of driving, Lucy asked, "So you never told me how you know...Alfendi."

"You haven't figured it out? How can you even-"

"I can just drop you off 'ere, you know," Lucy cut in, having expected an insult of sorts beforehand.

Deirdre glanced out the windows before sighing irritably. "Fine, you wanna know how I know Ally? I'm his sister, you dimwit," she replied before resting her elbows on her knees and her temples at her hands, closing her eyes.

After driving a bit longer, Lucy announced, "We're 'ere," while parking her car.

The two girls walked into Scotland Yard and into the Mystery Room. "Do you know it's pouring out there, Ally?" Deirdre demanded upon following Lucy into the room.

"Yes. It does that here, I thought you'd realised from living here twelve years," Alfendi shot back sharply, not looking up.

"So you were going to leave me to freeze to death?!"

He glared at her, replying irritably, "It only just started raining, and lucky for you, my assistant was actually nice enough to pick you up!" At this, the aforementioned assistant glanced up at their arguing before returning to working on the case that she could tell wouldn't be finished that day.

"Yeah, because you were too much of an _ass_ to do it yourself!"

"You're the one who chose to just walk around London for a few hours!"

"And do you know how fricking _freezing_ it is out there?"

"Yes, because I apparently have a much better memory of when we lived here before!"

Deirdre ran her hands through her hair, screaming in frustration. "You know what, just shut up!"

"Then would you just do what I ask for once?!"

"No! You're not in charge of me, you never were, and you never will be! You can't tell me what to do, and you can't just ditch me whenever, either, Ally!"

"Just go back to the apartment!"

"No!" she shouted. "You can't tell me what to do!"

"Then you can find your own way home when it rains tonight!"

Deirdre screamed in frustration, her fingers dragging through her hair. "I'm going in the hall!" she shouted before stomping out of the room, the door slamming in her frustration as they heard her screaming in anger while she stormed away from the door.

After half an hour, the Mystery Room phone began to ring.

"Hello? ... Yes. ... Get to the point!" he demanded, having swapped personalities. "What did she do this time? ... So what happened? Where is she? ... What else did she do? ... Of course she did. How long do I have to- ... Alright. I'll be right over."

He hung up the phone and said, "And now I have to go pick up Deirdre."

"Where is she?" Lucy asked, looking up from the Reconstruction Machine.

"In a holding cell."

"Why?"

"Attacking officers and 'disrupting the Yard.'"

"Oh."

Alfendi then stood up and walked out, bringing his blue coat with him in case it rained.

When he arrived at the building, he immediately saw Deirdre in the first cell, though as she was sitting on the concrete, staring distantly at the insides of her black gloved hands resting on her knees, she didn't see him enter the building.

"Al," the officer at the desk greeted. "All we need is for you to sign this."

Alfendi quickly signed and the officer unlocked the cell, surprised at how easily the key twisted in the lock. Immediately Deirdre jumped up and hugged Alfendi, saying, "Thank you thank you for coming, please don't leave me alone again."

Alfendi was completely shocked and stared at her cautiously.

"What-?" Alfendi asked her once she let go.

"What?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"What happened with her?" Alfendi asked the officer.

"We're not really sure. Since she's been sitting in here, she went from screaming and yelling to extremely quiet, and she might have been crying for a bit."

Alfendi glanced over her face, though from the smeared makeup from the prior rain, it was hard to tell.

"Well...let's go back to the Mystery Room then," he said to Deirdre before leaving the building with her following behind.


	5. Mysterious

4: Mysterious

* * *

_Previously:_

_"Thank you thank you for coming, please don't leave me alone again."_

_Alfendi was completely shocked and stared at her cautiously._

_"What-?" Alfendi asked her once she let go._

_"What?" she asked, genuinely confused._

_"What happened with her?" Alfendi asked the officer._

_"We're not really sure. Since she's been sitting in here, she went from screaming and yelling to extremely quiet, and she might have been crying for a bit."_

_Alfendi glanced over her face, though from the smeared makeup from the prior rain, it was hard to tell._

_"Well...let's go back to the Mystery Room then," he said to Deirdre before leaving the building with her following behind._

* * *

As they walked back to the Mystery Room, Deirdre stayed quiet, and every time Alfendi glanced back at her, she just smiled at him in a very unfamiliarly innocent way.

Halfway back, when Alfendi glanced at her, she didn't smile, only asked accusingly, "Why are you looking at me like I'm going to explode? Because I will if you don't _stop_."

"Which is what I've been expecting since five minutes ago."

"You mean when I was just sitting in the cell?"

"No, when the officer unlocked your cell."

"He didn't."

Alfendi sighed, "Don't tell me..."

She smirked, holding up a bobby pin. "No one suspects," she replied innocently.

"Then why didn't you just walk out?"

"Oh-well I wouldn't have just walked out in front of the officer at the desk, obviously," she replied, rolling her eyes, though it appeared that wasn't the entire reason.

"The officer at the desk is never there the entire time, always leaving. Don't you remember?"

She hesitated for a fraction of a second, glancing away, before replying, "Yeah."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"I remember it fine! I have a perfectly good memory!"

"You're still lying."

"What does it matter to you, why do you care so much about my memory?!"

"I don't-"

"Then shut up already! You're so irritating!" she fumed, walking ahead of Alfendi.

After walking for another ten minutes, Deirdre leading the way, Alfendi asked, "Is your memory good enough for you to remember the way back?"

"Yes," she replied curtly.

"Then which way do we have to go?"

She whipped around, demanding, "Would you quit interrogating me like I'm some criminal?! Again, I have a perfectly good memory! Stop questioning!" before turning back around and continuing to walk.

"That's not what I-"

"Oh, that's _totally_ what you meant, don't even try," she cut him off without turning around.

"No, because we're taking probably the longest route possible to get back, and it's about to rain."

She glanced up at the rapidly darkening sky. "And how would _you_ know?"

"Would you prefer to wait and find out?" he snapped, irritated with her arrogance. She was silent, really not wanting to be stuck in the rain for a _second_ time.

"This way," Alfendi led, cutting in front of her for her to follow.

After returning to Scotland Yard and walking inside just as rain started falling, Alfendi stopped a few yards from the door to the Mystery Room, turning to Deirdre as he asked, "What don't you remember of going to and from the holding cell?"

"Oh my fricking God, would you let it go already?!" she replied, her eyes flicking to the side.

"No."

She glared at him, exasperated, though she glanced away while she spoke. "_Whyyyy?!_ There's nothing to it! Just drop it already!"

"Then why are you so sensitive-"

"I'm not, but you're pissing me off by repeatedly bringing it up!"

"Because if there's something wrong with your memory, it's not something to forget!"

"It's fine!"

"No it's not, you've been lying this whole time!"

"And how would you know?!"

"Because you can't even look at me when you speak!"

"So?! That doesn't prove anything!"

"Then look at me and tell me you're not lying."

She screamed in frustration, eyes flitting away while insisting, "Oh my God, Ally! Just let it go! I'm fine!"

"You're lying."

"I've survived this long, I'm _fine_!"

"Deirdre, if you-"

"I'm perfectly fine, and so is my memory!"

"Then what's the first thing you did when the officer opened your cell?"

"If I answer this will you drop it?"

"Possibly."

"Ally!"

"It depends if you get the question right or not. If you get it right, I'll stop bugging you about it."

She vented her breath irritably, glaring at her brother as she leaned her shoulder against the wall, answering, "Fine." Then she answered, "I walked out."

"No. You jumped up, hugged me, and thanked me for coming and told me never to leave you alone again."

"And then I walked out. Therefore I'm right. So now you have to quit with it," she replied with a smirk.

"If that's what happened, why didn't you say that's what happened?"

"Because it's not what happened and you're just lying to trick me. Terrible attempt, by the way," she criticized.

"Does it look like I'm lying?"

She glanced over his expression, replying with a smirk, "Yes."

He glared at her, threatening, "If you keep lying, I might as well cut out your tongue."

"Really?" she asked with a scoff before continuing, "You can't threaten me. It's pointless. Is this conversation over?" she asked, walking past him to the door, her left wrist caught by Alfendi, and she winced at the sharpness digging into her flesh, painful memories overflowing her mind. "Owww, Ally!" she cried, trying to pull his hand off of her wrist unsuccessfully as she twisted her arm in an attempt to relieve the stabbing pain.

"I'm not even doing anything-"

"Yes you are and it _huuuurts_!" she whined, fear beginning to flicker in her quickly watering eyes.

"Tell me what's going on!"

"Nothing! Let go of me, owwww!" She continued to try to twist her arm out of his grip, losing her balance as she did so, though she managed to stay upright.

"Deirdre-"

"Ally, you're hurting me!"

"Tell me what's going on!"

"Stop, _please_!" she begged, tears almost spilling out of her eyes.

He released his grip on her wrist and she immediately pulled her arm away from him, holding her sore wrist to her chest as she caught her balance again, swaying slightly as she put one hand to her forehead, shoulder against the wall. After a moment, she removed her hand from her head, wiping off all traces of tears, all of her fear having dissipated, replaced with anger. "Now tell me," Alfendi demanded.

"Fine! I _can't_ remember things, all my memories have spaces, blanks! I wake up places I don't remember going to, hours will pass in the blink of an eye, and all since you left!"

"You...you've had gaps in your memory ever since I left...? Why didn't you tell me?" Alfendi asked, completely shocked beyond words.

"Because you wouldn't have cared! If you hadn't cared enough to take me with you back to London, or just not even leave in the first place, then you would've never cared that, because you left, all that and a hell of a lot more shit happened to me!"

"Of course I would've cared. I didn't know any of that happened, you never mentioned it."

"How was I supposed to tell you?! I didn't have a phone, I didn't have an address, I didn't have anything, Ally! And you didn't leave any trace for me to follow, either! I didn't have anything _because you left_!" She stormed into the Mystery Room, infuriated and upset.

Lucy, who had heard indistinct yelling from the other side of the door, asked, "Are you okay, Deirdre?"

"Yes! I'm fine! Would everyone just-shut up?!" she demanded before rubbing her wrist with her hand.

"Aye...but where's t' Prof?"

"I don't fricking care! And would you stop calling him that?!"

"Sorry...I'll be right back." Lucy stood up from her seat amidst the evidence files and walked outside, closing the door behind her.

"Prof?"

He was standing a yard away from the Mystery Room still, thinking about what Deirdre had said, and Lucy walked over to him, standing in front of him.

"Prof? Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine."

"What 'appened with you and Deirdre?"

"Just...discussing some things about how she was in California when I left."

"I could 'ear it from inside."

"Oh, sorry. But we should return to the case."

"Oh, I've almost got it finished, we can discuss it later," Lucy dismissed, not wanting the topic to change. "Deirdre seems upset about something. What 'appened?"

"She just...it's nothing."

"What?" Lucy pressed.

"She said that since I left California, she's had spaces in her memory."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"When does it 'appen?"

"I don't know, but she'd been acting weird at the cells and most of the way back here, and just before she went inside."

"Weird 'ow?"

"Like...not rude or sarcastic or anything."

"That's 'ow she were on t' phone. She sounded like she were about to cry."

"That's extremely unlike her." _Then again, that's how when I grabbed her arm...another mystery, I suppose, _he thought.

"Then when I were giving 'er a ride back, she weren't rude or anything. At least not in t' beginning."

"Yeah, halfway back from the cells she started snapping at me again. But before that she was quiet and...happy, not upset or angry with anything."

"Aye...that's 'ow she were, but tha's not how she is now."

"Let's just keep a close eye on her. It could've just been today."

"Aye." The two of them returned to the Mystery Room where Deirdre was lying across the chair, back against one arm of the chair, legs across the other, looking over her wrist, having pulled the glove half off, brushing her fingers over the skin. The moment the door opened though, she immediately slipped the glove on again and dropped her hand across her abdomen.

* * *

_This girl is just full of mysteries, isn't she?_

_I know it's late, I was really busy this week -PSAT and friends birthdays...plus I can't post on mobile, which SUCKS! I had it written up on Wattpad a few days ago and haven't had time to get onto a computer and post here. My apologies!_

_Thanks for your support!_

_~girlycathy~_


	6. Case

_Yes, the title is "Case". I'm so uncreative XD Titles are difficult tho._

_A day late cuz, y'know, Halloween. I'm so terrible at timing with Fanfiction, since I can't post on mobile. That's where I write and how I post on Wattpad. If you have one and are following this story, I recommend you do it on there._

_Enjoy the chapter! I might write a little oneshot for Halloween -you never know~_

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

5: Case

* * *

_Previously:_

_"Let's just keep a close eye on her. It could've just been today."_

_"Aye." The two of them returned to the Mystery Room where Deirdre was lying across the chair, back against one arm of the chair, legs across the other, looking over her wrist, having pulled the glove half off, brushing her fingers over the skin. The moment the door opened though, she immediately slipped the glove on again and dropped her hand across her abdomen._

* * *

After Alfendi and Lucy went back inside the Mystery Room, they continued working on the case, Lucy sharing everything she'd found so far. She'd already gone through the alibis and statements of each suspect and the scene, and had stacked up evidence files and was beginning to add them all into the Reconstruction Machine, having read through the case file already and tossed it off to the side.

There was a copy of the file on Alfendi's desk, and he began skimming through it. After ten minutes, Deirdre announced from her spot on the couch, "It's so boring here."

"Then go back to the apartment," Alfendi replied.

"No way."

"Then stop complaining."

"Can I look at the case you're working on?" she asked, turning around in the chair to face him.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you're not allowed to."

"Why?"

"First of all, you have to work here, which you do not, and second of all, you have to be qualified, which you are also not."

"I am qualified."

"With a medical degree in America."

"It's not like anyone can tell the difference."

"Everyone can tell the difference. They're in two completely unrelated fields of work."

"So?"

"So you cannot help with cases."

"Fine then. I'll find something to do myself," she replied, turning back to face the wall before glancing to see if he was looking her direction or making any motion to. When she concluded that he wasn't going to, she crossed the room, careful not to step on any papers or make any noise, to quietly take the case file off to the side and sit back down, back facing Alfendi as she read through it, figuring out in her mind who the culprit was. She looked over at Lucy, who was still entering evidence into the machine, two stacks of evidence beside her, and placed the case file on the chair, out of Alfendi's view, as she walked over, purposely stepping on a sheet of paper so it would crinkle, and asked, "Can I see this?"

Lucy, absorbed into entering evidence into the machine, absentmindedly answered, "Aye."

Deirdre grabbed a piece of evidence from one of the stacks, wanting to look at it in closer detail as she sat back down in the chair, comparing the evidence file to its description in the case.

After a few minutes more of reading, said, "Do you really need a machine to do this? It's so obvious."

Alfendi looked over to see her skimming through the case file. He immediately switched personalities before standing up and snatching it from her fingers.

"Hey! Ally!" She twisted around the moment the case file was slipped out of her hands, glaring at him as he closed it and walked back behind his desk.

"I already told you, you're not allowed to read through case files," he snapped, tossing the folder on his desk. Lucy, already knowing they were going to argue, didn't even bother to turn around and continued on entering evidence files, switching the placement of the stacks to begin the next one.

"Why do you think I read the entire thing before speaking?" she smirked.

He looked up at her, replying, "There's no way you read the entire thing."

"Really? Then let me finish reading it."

"No."

She frowned, angrily demanding, "Then what do you expect me to do?!"

"I don't know!"

"Well then what did you think I would do, just sit here for hours?"

"I didn't invite you here, you chose to just come!"

Then Lucy spoke up, tired of their nonstop arguing, "Prof, she could do the case with us. I'm sure t' Commissioner won't mind."

Deirdre's eyes lit up, and she replied, "Yeah! I'll just do them with you, Ally!" Then she walked over to his desk, slipping the case file from his hand from over a precarious stack of papers and folders.

"Deirdre-"

"Now you have absolutely no argument, and I get to help!"

He groaned in frustration, giving in. "Fine, but don't mess anything up."

"Oh, just worry about yourself for once," she shot back, opening the case file to continue looking over the evidence.

Though they'd ended up letting Deirdre help with the case, she wasn't allowed to interrogate criminals, no matter how much she argued.

"Ally! Why can't I?!"

"You're not allowed to!"

"But why?!"

"Because of the risks of being around criminals, no one except investigators are allowed in that room if they're not being interrogated!"

"But that's totally unfair!"

"Yes, it is, because you shouldn't even be looking at cases in the first place!" he shot back, stepping out the door after Lucy.

"Ally!-"

She was cut off by the slam of the door, and she screamed in frustration, locked in the Mystery Room, and more importantly, out of the interrogation room. She paced the room for a few minutes, venting her frustration, before looking around the room for the recently solved cases, looking for interesting ones. She found a file from years past, where her brother had been suspected (which to her was only a little surprising), though it had gone unsolved until just a few months ago. Catching her interest, she skimmed through it until Alfendi and Lucy came back in, and she quickly closed it and tossed it aside, knowing it would be hidden in the mess and sure that Alfendi wouldn't want her reading any case, especially that one -which made it all the more intriguing.


	7. Danger

_Hope you all enjoyed Halloween! I went as Jeff the Killer and it was awesome! Didn't get a ton of candy though :(_

_Enjoy the chapter! Bit of blood, no gore or anything, just a mention. Just a warning for anyone who's wary of it._

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

6: Danger

* * *

_Previously:_

_"But that's totally unfair!"_

_"Yes, it is, because you shouldn't even be looking at cases in the first place!" he shot back, stepping out the door after Lucy._

_"Ally!-"_

_She was cut off by the slam of the door, and she screamed in frustration, locked in the Mystery Room, and more importantly, out of the interrogation room. She paced the room for a few minutes, venting her frustration, before looking around the room for the recently solved cases, looking for interesting ones. She found a file from years past, where her brother had been suspected (which to her was only a little surprising), though it had gone unsolved until just a few months ago. Catching her interest, she skimmed through it until Alfendi and Lucy came back in, and she quickly closed it and tossed it aside, knowing it would be hidden in the mess and sure that Alfendi wouldn't want her reading any case, especially that one -which made it all the more intriguing._

* * *

It was late at night, and the trio had been working all afternoon on another case, and had lost track of time.

Lucy yawned. "What time is it-Oh, 'eck!" she exclaimed, looking at the clock. The siblings looked over at her. "It's almost eight o'clock! I 'ave ta get home!"

"Luce, it's really dark outside, and it looks like it's going to rain soon. You going to be okay?"

"Aye," she replied, "I don't live far from 'ere."

"Are you sure?" Alfendi asked, voicing his concern. "It's much later than usual, it's dangerous this late at night."

"I'll be fine, I can take care of myself," she reassured them with a light laugh at their concern, packing up her bag and slipping the strap onto her shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll call when I get 'ome, alright?"

"Thanks, Luce. Be safe."

"Bye," she replied, walking out the door.

"Bye, Lucy, see you tomorrow."

"See ya tomorrow, Prof!"

A minute later, they saw her through the glass window of the Mystery Room, waving at them as she walked until she turned a corner.

"Why's she walking? She has a car, she picked me up in it before."

"Maybe it's not working or something, but she'll be fine, and she said she's going to call when she got home."

"Yeah...I guess. We should probably head home too, Ally, once Lucy calls."

"Just a minute..." he mumbled, looking down at case files.

"Okay, well, I'm going to start cleaning up this mess," Deirdre replied, looking at the scattered evidence files and the Reconstruction Machine buzzing in the corner.

Half an hour later, Deirdre had turned off the Reconstruction Machine and neatened up the evidence files into a couple small stacks by the machine.

"Hey, how long does it take for Lucy to get home?"

"I'm not sure, maybe ten or fifteen minutes. She said it wasn't far."

"Well it's far enough to drive."

"That's true..."

"Well, I think she left thirty minutes ago... She was going to call, maybe she forgot?"

"She wouldn't forget, let's give it ten more minutes before we go out hunting for her."

"Alright. In the meantime, I'll be waiting on you to get home. I'm exhausted," she remarked with a yawn, sitting down on the couch and leaning against the corner of the backing and the arm of it. "And I'm leaving at nine o'clock, no matter what, Ally. And I'll be dragging you along with me."

After awhile, Deirdre had fallen asleep on the couch, unnoticed to Alfendi.

"Found it!" he exclaimed, waking his sister.

"Whaa..." she asked, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. "What are you talking about?"

"The murder weapon! I found it!"

"Good for you, Ally. Can we go home now?"

"Yes, I just have to put this all away..." he replied as he started slipping the case file into his bag.

"Don't tell me you're taking that home. Home is for sleep, not for work," she remarked, standing up and stretching her arms and legs with a yawn.

"Sleep is for victims, Deirdre."

"Whatever. I'm going home, and I'm going to sleep. Oh, and did Lucy call?" she asked.

"No, why?"

"Because it's been..." she began, looking at the clock, "an hour since she left. Can you call her?"

"Yeah, just one moment."

They called her mobile, but it went straight to voicemail.

The two of them immediately left the room, leaving all their stuff behind them.

It was dark and rainy and windy, hard to see anything. The rain had already soaked their clothes and hair, all of it sticking to their skin.

"This way," Deirdre led, heading off to the right and across the street. "We have to look really carefully in the alleys and all, but I can't see in all this rain. Do you have a flashlight or something?"

"No, but I bet there's one in the building."

"Oh, I'll just use my cell," she remarked, pulling out her phone as a light source.

They walked down to the corner they'd seen Lucy turn at, though they couldn't see where to go after that.

"Deirdre! Come here, give me your phone!" Alfendi demanded, walking into a deeper alleyway filled with puddles.

"What is it?" she asked, handing Alfendi her mobile, spotting Lucy's hat and bag laying open on the ground, her mobile lying cracked on the cement next to them. Deirdre carefully picked up the mobile to see the screen was black and shattered, the device unresponsive as she clicked the on button.

"I think..." he began, walking further into the darkness, Deirdre waiting behind, the cell lighting up the dark alleyway, "it's Lucy! Come help me!"

Deirdre ran down into the alleyway, splashing through puddles.

"Did you have to soak me in mudwater?!"

"No, it was just for fun!" she shouted sarcastically over the rain.

The two of them lifted up Lucy to find she was unconscious, and covered in muddy water and blood, her hair extremely sticky. They carried her back to the Mystery Room, leaving a trail of muck as they walked, and unlocked the door before placing Lucy on the sofa, not caring that it was then covered in mud and water and blood.

"I'll take care of her injuries and clean her up, you go investigate the scene, and grab her stuff."

"Alright, I'll be back soon."

"Be careful, Ally."

"I will." Then Alfendi walked out of the room.

Deirdre first took Lucy's bloody jacket and shoes off, seeing as they were only keeping her soaked and freezing, and she tossed them on the floor to the side. Then she ran to the bathroom to get paper towels and took a mug filled with lukewarm water from the kitchen back to the Mystery Room.

She used the paper towels and water to clean off all the mud and blood from all of Lucy's cuts and scrapes, only shocked at the number of cuts making a bloody mess of her arm. Then she found the first aid kit in the office and cleaned and bandaged Lucy's wounds, though it was a basic medical kit and didn't have any rolls of gauze to wrap the bloody mess that covered her arms, only sticky band aids to put on the cuts and scrapes on her knees before she took a few ice packs and placed them on the bruises, mostly at the back of Lucy's head where there appeared to be a major injury, possibly requiring stitches. Then she cleaned the blood out of Lucy's hair with more paper towels and water.

By the end, Lucy's injuries were all tended to, and she was cleaned off from mud, aside from her clothes. The only other issue was her clothes were still soaking wet and didn't appear to be drying anytime soon, and it kept her skin icy cold.

Then Deirdre had the idea to soak paper towels in warm water to warm her skin and hopefully keep her from getting sick. While she was warming up Lucy, Alfendi returned with data for the Reconstruction Machine and Lucy's hat, messenger bag, and phone, tossing it all with the jacket and shoes.

"I'm back, and I have the data."

"Ok, once I finish this, I'm going to go clean off my clothes and try to get the blood out of Lucy's jacket, can you watch over her while I'm gone?"

"Sure. Is she awake?"

"No, but she'll be fine once she is, although she may be stuck with a cold. Her clothes are still soaking wet with icy water, but I'm trying to warm her up. All her injuries and lacerations have been tended to already, and she's got some nasty thing that had definitely been bleeding for awhile on the back of her head, and a lot of bloody cuts and scrapes on her arms and stomach; might wanna take a look at those later on, taking her to a hospital would be smart because you hardly have a half First-Aid kit here."

"Alright, later on we can, but for now you should go warm yourself up; your skin is just as cold as hers," Alfendi remarked, his hand on her arm, noticing the temperature.

"You're even colder, Ally," she replied, brushing his hand off of her arm. "But I'll be back soon. Want me to bring back some tea?"

"I'm okay."

"Alright. Be back soon." With that, she left, taking Lucy's jacket, off to clean off herself and the jacket.

Alfendi started up the Reconstruction Machine with the data he'd received from the scene. As the machine was starting up, he walked over to Lucy and looked at her peaceful features, brushing his fingers across her cheek, the one part of her not completely covered in blood or bandages, hoping she'd be okay. Then he returned to the machine and began looking at the evidence left by the assailant.

"I'm back!" Deirdre exclaimed. "Oh my god it's freezing in here! Turn the heat on, will you?" She spotted the thermostat and immediately twisted the dial all the way around.

"Don't burn out the heater, Deirdre!"

"Fine," she complied, twisting the dial back a ways. "What've you got?"

"Well, the attacker left a couple items behind at the scene. I'm sure Lucy can tell us more about what happened when she wakes up."

"Alright. Do you wanna go dry yourself off now?"

"No, I'm fine."

"It's not good for you."

"I'm fine, Deirdre."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" he snapped, his hair crimson now, and he shuddered.

"You're shivering," she pointed out. "I don't know how 'cause I just blasted the heat."

"It doesn't matter, I'll be fine. Worry about yourself, will you?"

She paused for a moment, finger on her chin as she looked upwards, feigning thought, before replying, "Done and done. But you're still freezing, go dry off."

"I'm fine!"

"You're gonna get sick, and I don't wanna deal with that! Go dry off, or at least take off your fricking lab coat, it's sopping wet."

He glared at her, before snapping, "Fine!" and storming out of the room to do as the teen insisted.

Deirdre smirked triumphantly before looking over the scene and figuring out in her mind how the attack played out until Alfendi returned, clothes dry to Deirdre's satisfaction, upon which she described what she thought happened.

The two siblings discussed the scene for awhile, unnoticing of the girl behind them waking up.

"Wh-where am I?" a small voice said.

* * *

_I'm such a fan of cliffhangers~ that's what'll suck to read my writing. And it twists away from the original plotline some (not yet, but soon), so if you've read my writing, you know what may be coming up. _

_Working on a couple stories on the side to post soon -they're not done yet. One's a fanfiction (Mystery Room -it'll go under Mystery Room Oneshots) and another's a story made up of story starters I found online._

_Be posting again the 30th! Or 31st, if there is one this month (I'm so terrible at knowing that XD)_

_~girlycathy~_


	8. Amnesiac

_An extra for Thanksgiving -plus I'm excited to see your reactions to both this and the next chapter (posted tomorrow). I was too busy on Thursday to post though, and didn't even go online at all on Friday, though, so it's late. But also extra, so, y'know..._

_Enjoy! Comment, I'd love your reactions to this chapter!_

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

7: Amnesiac

* * *

_Previously: _

_Deirdre smirked triumphantly before looking over the scene and figuring out in her mind how the attack played out until Alfendi returned, clothes dry to Deirdre's satisfaction, upon which she described what she thought happened._

_The two siblings discussed the scene for awhile, unnoticing of the girl behind them waking up._

_"Wh-where am I?" a small voice said._

* * *

The siblings at the machine turned around.

"Lucy!"

"H-how do you- What-" she stammered, confused as she looked over the bloody cuts covering her forearms.

"Lucy?" Deirdre asked, trying to figure out what she was trying to ask.

"'Ow do you know me?" she asked quietly.

"What?" Alfendi asked.

"How do you know me?" she repeated hesitantly, though louder as she continued staring at the wounds.

"Lucy, we're friends of yours-"

She inhaled sharply, eyes filling with fear as she connected the two strangers before her with the bloody wounds, whispering to herself, "N-no, no, no," and standing up and running out of the room, leaving behind her stained jacket, shoes, and hat and ignoring the pain the wounds caused her, though she stumbled a bit in the hall, a dotted trail of blood behind her.

"Lucy!" the siblings called after her, following her quickly, Alfendi grabbing what she left behind.

"Lucy!"

Lucy ran out to the sidewalk, Deirdre fast behind, trying to grab her arm, not caring if she injured the confused girl any more.

"Lucy, Luce, stop moving!" she shouted over the rain. Lucy was a few steps away from standing in the way of a speeding car, headlights barely visible around the bend, the Laytons back by the building. She turned around to the voice.

"Lucy, stop, we're friends of yours!" Alfendi yelled, standing behind Deirdre.

"I-no, no, you're not." She shook her head violently before sprinting away, right into the middle of the street.

"_LUCY!_" the siblings screamed as Lucy tripped.

_*Bang*_

A car zoomed by in the street, throwing Lucy's body rolling over the car and into the road, a gunshot-sounding echo in the air, just as cruel as the echoing voice attacking the girl in the road.

_"Heartless bitch!"_

Deirdre and Alfendi ran out to Lucy's body. Deirdre checked her pulse; it was faint and fading. Alfendi immediately called an ambulance and Deirdre, knowing not to move her, ran back inside and came out with police tape, orange cones, and flashlights. She and Alfendi quickly set them up around Lucy's body, flashlights warning any other drivers of the obstruction in the road, marked by yellow police tape and orange cones. Then the two of them crouched by Lucy's body in the rain, blood mixing with muddy rainwater as it slipped away down into the sewers, the two pressing her jacket and hat to the blood pouring out of new cuts on her face, bruises all over, a deep gash on her upper leg with blood pouring out.

Minutes later, the ambulance arrived. It took Lucy to the hospital, but left the Laytons in the waiting room while she was taken care of.

After an hour, the doctors had stopped all the bleeding and bandaged Lucy up, but she was on life support, in a coma from the amount of blood she had lost.

The Laytons were then allowed to see her, seeing as they were the ones to call the ambulance, and the reason she survived.

"Be careful," a nurse said to Alfendi. "She's in a coma, at the very least for a few days, more likely several weeks. You might not like what you see."

"We'll be fine," he assured the nurse, walking in behind Deirdre.

Lucy was lying on the hospital bed, gauze bandages wrapped around her arms from elbow to wrist and head, small cuts on her cheeks and chin, a cast around one leg, band-aids scattered across the other, a few cuts on her bare feet, a blanket across her body. Her face was pale and lifeless, and her expression was peaceful, her breathing soft and even, and her pale skin clearly showed the dark, finger-shaped bruises around her neck. From a distance, the heart rate monitor was the only thing to tell them she was still alive.

Wires were clipped to her wrists and fingers, tracking her every movement, no matter how slight, though the monitors warned them of none.

Deirdre rushed into the room and knelt by Lucy's side, while Alfendi stood back, shocked at how lifeless she had become.

He walked over to his sister, kneeling by her and wrapping his arms around her as she leaned into his shoulder, trying not to cry, her arms wrapped around his neck. After a few minutes she quickly fell asleep leaning on Alfendi, exhausted from the day.

Alfendi took Lucy's hand in his own, feeling how cold it had become.

He knew only a miracle would save her.


	9. Hospital

8: Hospital

* * *

_Previously:_

_Deirdre rushed into the room and knelt by Lucy's side, while Alfendi stood back, shocked at how lifeless she had become._

_He walked over to his sister, kneeling by her and wrapping his arms around her as she leaned into his shoulder, trying not to cry, her arms wrapped around his neck. After a few minutes she quickly fell asleep leaning on Alfendi, exhausted from the day._

_Alfendi took Lucy's hand in his own, feeling how cold it had become._

_He knew only a miracle would save her._

* * *

They visited the hospital during every visiting hour, hoping every day she would be awake to greet them, she never was.

She laid unconscious for a month and a half. Every day, there were ten visiting hours. The Laytons came during every one, every day a bit more sleep deprived, and after three weeks, always slightly more hopeless than the day before, so worried they hardly ate anything either, starving themselves unconsciously.

After four weeks, the siblings were told that she would be removed from life support soon, most likely during that week, because they needed the machines for other patients.

The siblings immediately reacted, both of them angry and upset.

"You can't!"

"We can't afford to lose her, she's one of the best investigators at Scotland Yard!"

When they had finished yelling at the doctor, who had stood patiently the entire time, the doctor responded calmly. "We'll keep her on it until next Saturday, seven days from now. She wasn't very stable to begin with, and had lost a lot of blood, so if she's not recovered by then, she won't recover at all."

Then the doctor left, leaving Alfendi and Deirdre alone in the room, Lucy laying in the bed behind them, just as unconscious as she was a month before.

For the next seven days, Alfendi and Deirdre returned, just as they had before, but clearly more sleep deprived each time, spending all of their time trying to figure out how to wake up Lucy or get the doctors to postpone the removal of the machines, or just laying awake at night worrying about her.

On the seventh day, the two returned, not having slept at all the night before, and they started doing whatever to get Lucy to wake: yelling, shaking her, pleading with her, anything.

After an hour, she coughed lightly, and Alfendi and Deirdre hoped and hoped she was awake, but she wasn't. They had no idea what to do, and after a few more hours, she was coughing again, but still unconscious.

After two more hours, a doctor came in to tell them they had one hour before she was removed from life support. They glanced at the clock to see after an hour it would be six thirty, a half hour before they would be forced to leave.

When the doctor returned again after that hour, Deirdre immediately ran up to him at the door and, smiling, said, "She's awake now, so it's all okay."

"Then removing her from life support will do nothing to harm her," he replied.

He tried to walk past her, but Deirdre stood in his way at the door, and answered, "Yes, but she's still not very well, so I think you should keep her on it another day."

"And who are you to determine that?"

"I-I have a medical degree, so I think I can say that she should stay on it another day."

"A medical degree? From where?"

Deirdre hesitated, before dismissively answering, "London, one of the smaller universities. You've probably not heard of it."

"I think I may have, which university?"

"It's, um, oh damn, I forgot what it's called. I'm totally blanking right now," she answered, slightly laughing out of nervousness, and it became clear she was shaking uncontrollably.

"Let me through to see the patient."

"No thank you," she replied, not letting her smile falter, yet refusing to let him see her.

"Do I have to call security?"

She hummed, looking up and slightly rocking her head sideways, thinking, "Mmmmmmmm," before looking back at the doctor, saying, "probably. You should go and do that, and leave me here. I won't be going anywhere."

"But luckily for you, I don't have to leave to do that." He took a walkie-talkie from his pocket and as he was about to speak into it, Deirdre snatched it from his hand.

"Now you do," she cut in, smiling innocently.

"Give that back!"

"Losing your composure already?" she fake pouted before switching to an evil smirk, tightly gripping the device in her hands. "You can't tell me what to do."

Then he yelled, "SECURITY!" and soon they heard faint footsteps slowly getting louder.

The doctor and Deirdre both glared each other down until the security officers arrived. As the doctor turned to face them, Deirdre changed her expression to one of sadness and fear.

"What's the problem?"

"This girl won't let me through to see the patient and now has stolen my walkie-talkie."

"He's lying!" Deirdre screamed immediately, spending most of the little energy she had left, shoving the walkie-talkie back at the doctor as if it were burning her, though he didn't take it. "I didn't do anything!"

"And why would he do that?" the officer asked.

"B-because...I don't know!" she cried, tears welling up in her eyes as she dug her nails into her right wrist through the glove, easily concealed with the walkie-talkie in her hand, her shaking contributing to the crying effect. "H-he just hates me!"

"She's lying! She wouldn't let me through to see the patient because I'm supposed to remove her from the life support."

"Is this true?" the officer asked, turning to Deirdre.

She barely hesitated before shakily answering, "N-no!" and immediately knowing how unconvincing the protest was.

"Are you sure?"

"I-I...it's true." She didn't have enough energy to continue arguing, at this point she felt as though she could collapse at any moment, and she hung her head, sniffling, but when the officer grabbed her wrists to restrain her, catching her by surprise, she screamed, pain shooting through her arm. "Stop! It hurts, please stop!" she screamed, heavy breaths between her words, as if she couldn't get enough air in her lungs, trying to pull her arms out of the officer's tight grip, her vision blurring from tears and pain, struggling to stay on her feet, her boots sliding on the linoleum floors as her knees began to give way.

"Nice try," he said, thinking it was another act.

"Pleeaase, it hurts, it really really hurts!" she begged, slipping to the ground, only held by the security guard's grip on her wrists, adding to the pain.

"I don't think this is an act," the doctor said. "Let go of her."

The security officer released her wrists and immediately she fell to the ground, rubbing her wrists and sniffling before pressing her hands to her forehead, a headache forming.

"Let me see your wrists," the doctor requested, kneeling down by her as she immediately shook her head.

"I-I'm fine," she said, shakily standing up, the doctor following.

"No you're not, you were screaming and crying."

"Oh...that," she began, pretending she knew what he was talking about.

"Yes. Let me see your wrists."

"I'm fine, th-there's nothing wrong with my wrists."

"You're rubbing them still."

"Because it hurt when he was restraining me!" she immediately snapped.

"Is that why you were screaming and crying?"

"Y-yes! Because it hurt!"

"Why are you wearing those gloves?"

"What does it matter?!"

"I was just asking because they perfectly cover your wrists."

"So?!"

"So is there something wrong with your wrists?"

"No!"

"Alright then. Then you will be restrained again while I take care of the patient."

The security guard held her wrists again, and she began screaming immediately, sinking to the ground, once again held up by her wrists.

"Please make him stop, it hurts really bad, please!"

The doctor didn't flinch or move, only asking, "So there's nothing wrong with your wrists?"

"There is, and it hurts r-really really badly!"

"Release her."

Again, she fell and began rubbing her wrists again.

"What's wrong with your wrists?"

She looked up, answering, "I already told you, nothing!"

"And you just told me there is something."

She wasn't sure whether to believe him or not, but she didn't want him to find out anything else. "Fine! But it's my business!"

"Clearly it's something major."

"No!"

"Yes, you were screaming and crying when he barely put any pressure on your wrists."

"You don't know that!"

"Yes, I do. Let me see your wrists."

"No."

"I just want to look at them."

She shook her head, her head throbbing for multiple reasons.

"Why not?"

She stood up, ignoring the slight dizziness and the feeling that she could collapse, trying to find energy to stay standing, though she couldn't keep from shaking. "Because it's my business and I can deal with it myself, I don't need some doctor to look at them and think I'm crazy, I'm fine!"

"I won't think you're crazy," he replied, and she realized she had let something else slip.

"Yes you will, o-once you see what's happened." She turned to walk away, but the doctor caught her arm.

"Just let me see your wrists."

"There's nothing wrong, I'm perfectly capable of dealing with it myself, just let go of me!" she shouted, yanking her arm away and holding her wrists close to her torso, draining herself of energy.

She began walking through the room unsteadily, and the doctor followed her inside, but immediately went to remove Lucy from life support, no protests from the teenager who went straight to leaning against her brother, almost collapsing to the floor, still shaking uncontrollably, and the Laytons watched to see what happened, afraid Lucy would die. As he did so, the heart rate monitor continued to beep, unaffected by what he had done. Surprised, he felt the girl's pulse at her neck, unable to avoid the bruises and she whined, "Oww..." and she opened her eyes and asked, "Where am I?"

"In a hospital, in London. What's your name?"

"Lucy Baker."

"And your age?" he asked, taking a clipboard from the bedside table.

"Eighteen." Immediately the siblings were shocked, but silent. "'Ow long have I been here?" she asked, sitting up painfully, only now realizing the injuries she sustained, looking at the white bandages covering half of her skin.

"Five weeks. And your records say you're twenty-two."

Her eyes widened. "What?! No, I'm eighteen! Why would I be twenty-two?"

"You seem to be amnesiac, these records say you're twenty-two."

"But I'm not!"

Alfendi exclaimed, "Yes you are!"

Seeing him and Deirdre, Lucy inhaled sharply, and backed against the wall, the beeping of the heart rate monitor quickly speeding up along with her breathing.

The doctor noticed and asked, "What?"

"Th-those two...th-they did this to me..."

* * *

_Yes, late once again...but I'll be posting around Christmastime, another chapter. Also-I have a backstory made up for Deirdre: crazy long, but written. I'm curious to see if any of you would be interested in reading it (although it probably wouldn't be posted for awhile, not till it's clear in this story the major part of it). I'll also have to double check if it's alright with the actual creator of the OC, queen . city . quinn on FF, seeing as it _is_ their character._

_~girlycathy~_


	10. Accusations

9: Accusations

* * *

_Previously:_

_"You seem to be amnesiac, these records say you're twenty-two."_

_"But I'm not!"_

_Alfendi exclaimed, "Yes you are!"_

_Seeing him and Deirdre, Lucy inhaled sharply, and backed against the wall, the beeping of the heart rate monitor quickly speeding up along with her breathing._

_The doctor noticed and asked, "What?"_

_"Th-those two...th-they did this to me..."_

* * *

Immediately there was a commotion.

"What are you talking about?!"

"Lucy, we didn't cause this!"

"Just wait a second!" the doctor yelled, creating a silence. "Lucy, are you sure it was them?"

She nodded, frightened.

"Then it looks like I have to report you two," the doctor said to the Laytons.

"But-"

"I have no other choice. I'll be reporting you two to the police."

"A-Ally...," Deirdre began, almost crying, quickly filling with anxiety as she looked up at him with childlike fear, clinging to his arm. "Wh-what do we...?"

"Scotland Yard, right?" he asked the doctor, and the medic nodded in return before turning back to the telephone.

A security guard walked over to them to escort them to Scotland Yard.

"We're just going to go to Scotland Yard," Alfendi replied to Deirdre slowly, and he wrapped his arm around her, noticing how scared she was, yet not knowing why.

She followed him, staying close, and tried to wipe away her tears, trying to tell herself she would be fine, though her tears were only replaced by more. She bent her head down, letting her crimson hair hide her face.

That night, the two were taken in for questioning, and they each gave their entire explanation on what happened, both of them lining up with the reports. It was concluded by Scotland Yard that she was amnesiac and that while what she reported seeing was true, she hadn't realized what was going on at the time, which led her to the thought that she had been attacked by them and hen kidnapped. Deirdre and Alfendi were released, free from the charges placed by the victim, and immediately went back to the hospital where Lucy was staying for the next couple nights, so the doctors could keep an eye on her and make sure she recovered well, aware of the circumstances.

The next day, two days before she was supposed to go home, the siblings were trying to convince Lucy that she knew them and it was all a misunderstanding. She had been told what had happened by Scotland Yard officials, but didn't really believe them, the fact that she was amnesiac throwing her off, yet they'd assured her that she was safe with them, and therefore the doctors let them stay with Lucy.

"What do you remember of us?" Deirdre asked, sitting in a white plastic chair next to Lucy's bed while a crimson-haired Alfendi paced around behind her.

"I-I remember...being in a strange room, and you two were there, looking at something...and my arms were covered in blood and cuts, and my 'ead were hurting really bad..."

"Why were you there?" she asked. Deirdre had planned to ask all the questions because she knew with how sleep deprived she and Alfendi were, Alfendi wouldn't be patient for long enough. She at least could control her anger, unlike her brother, or at least she hoped with the lack of energy she had.

"Because you brought me there! You were trying to kidnap me, that's why I were so injured!"

"That's not why we brought you there-"

"The door wasn't locked. If we'd had been trying to kidnap you, we would've had the sense to lock the door," Deirdre cut in, shooting a glare at Alfendi who only returned it.

"Or ya just forgot." _Not helping, Luce_, Deirdre thought as she sighed.

"Lucy, we took you to a _police station_! Why would-"

"_Ally_!" Deirdre cut in sharply, twisting around to shoot him a dangerous glare that he returned equally. "Just _shut it_!" Even not asking questions, hearing the answers exasperated and irritated him.

"Did you notice that we had also bandaged you up and cleaned off all your wounds?" Deirdre asked, trying to ignore the argument.

"But ya didn't."

"There was a lot more blood on your arms than you remember beforehand," Deirdre answered. "We dragged you from an alleyway where you had been assaulted, and cleaned you off."

"Then why didn't you bandage my arms?"

"Because Ally doesn't have a good enough First-Aid kit. It didn't have anything that would've worked for bandaging up your arms. But there's a deep cut in your knee that I bandaged, and a lot of blood I cleaned out of your hair and off of your clothes." Today, she happened to wear the same thing she had worn the day of the incident, and it was just as bloodstained as it had been then. "Look at my clothes, this is what I was wearing. There's blood all over them." The knees of her dark jeans were bloody, stained a deep red, and her hooded green shirt had blood at the hem.

"'Ow do I know you didn't dye it on purpose?"

"Why would I do that?"

"To make a point."

Deirdre sighed again, beginning to feel frustrated. Lucy had been taught to interrogate well, but not against them! But it was somewhat relieving to know she had at least retained that skill, even if her memories were temporarily lost, though it would be harder to convince her then. "Everything I used should still be on the floor, if you'd like to come see when you're released. The First-Aid kit, the towels I used to clean off the blood, all the bandage wrappers, everything. Er, wait...," she paused, thinking, "it happened a month and a half ago, so it might not be there."

"So you don't have any proof that you were helping me."

"No, we do..." Deirdre began to protest.

"Deirdre, we have the reconstruction to look for clues," Alfendi reminded.

"Oh, right!"

Lucy looked at them curiously, asking, "What're you talking about?"

"We have a machine that reconstructs any crime scene down to the last detail. We got a reconstruction of the scene where you were attacked, and we can show it to you so you can see it wasn't us to attack you."

"And 'ow do I know ya won't kidnap me again? No thank you!" she answered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We did not-"

"Ally, just let it slide. If that's what she wants to think, until we have proof, it's not going to change anything," Deirdre cut in, turning in her chair to face him. "Let's go back to the Mystery Room, assuming we're allowed inside, and investigate."

"Why wouldn't you be allowed?" Lucy asked, not understanding, but too curious to ignore it.

Deirdre turned back to face her, answering irritably, "Because it might be counted as a 'crime scene'-" she made air quotes with her fingers "-seeing as your body was there and so is a hell of a lot of your blood, and seeing as you accused us of the crime, some of the detectives there might not realize we are actually _innocent_."

The two siblings left the room and went to the Mystery Room to find the only difference between that night weeks before and that day was about thirty more case files piled onto Alfendi's desk and that all of Deirdre's medical supplies had been moved to the desk and shelves, bandage wrappers thrown in the trash can. There was a clear elongated bloodstain across the floor by the sofa, and the Reconstruction Machine was still on, wasting energy.

The Laytons immediately went to the Reconstruction Machine, looking over the scene for clues to prove Lucy it wasn't them who attacked her.

After a few hours, Deirdre had chosen to look through the physical evidence, and started looking through Lucy's messenger bag, the one she used instead of a purse.

"Since when does Lucy carry pepper spray?"

"What are you talking about?"

"There's a bottle of it right here, Ally." She was in the process of looking through everything she had dumped out of Lucy's bag and straight onto the floor, though she knew to be more careful of fingerprints and was wearing latex gloves to keep her prints off the evidence, her black fingerless gloves over them.

"What makes you think I would know when she started carrying that around?" he asked, not turning from the Reconstruction.

"Just asking. Did you know she has glasses?"

"No."

"She has some seriously messed up vision, Ally," Deirdre continued, looking through the glasses. "And of course, here's an empty contact case. You think she needs this at the hospital?"

"Maybe," he mumbled absentmindedly, still looking through the crime scene.

Continuing to look through all the evidence, she saw Lucy's wallet and car keys, a charger, and a big yellow-orange envelope, the clip holding it closed worn down from being repeatedly opened and closed. Deirdre opened it to find a file inside, similar to the ones that were sent to the Mystery Room, but unlabeled aside from the name in the lower right-hand corner: **Baker**.

"What's this?"

"What are you talking about, Deirdre?"

"This. It's a file, in Lucy's bag. And not the file we were working on at the time."

Alfendi glanced over, seeing the file. "That file..." His eyes widened as he remembered what it was. "That's the murder case...she had it with her the entire time," he breathed.

"What murder case?"

"Read the names of the victims."

She opened the file and skimmed for the names, finding them. "No way...was she trying to find the killer then?"

"I don't know. Probably."

"Her parents and sister were killed right in front of her...and she was only fourteen."

"Yeah...she lived on the streets for a year before one of her friends took her in."

"That's...terrible." Then she had an idea. "Ally, where's Lucy's cell phone?"

"Right here. Why?"

"Give me it."

Alfendi handed her the cracked device. "It doesn't work, Deirdre."

"Or...it's out of battery," Deirdre replied, checking the charging outlet on the phone and grabbing the charger from Lucy's bag.

A minute of being plugged in, and the phone turned on automatically, a clue that it had been on before.

Deirdre looked through the phone to see a recent conversation between Lucy and some unknown number, a blocked number, from a week before the attack, consisting of many threats from the blocked number before the conversation ended with a threat of attack, four days before the incident.

"Ally...look at this."

"What?"

"Just-come here and look," she answered, motioning him over.

He quickly read through the entire conversation. "She didn't mention a word of this..."

"Well whoever it is threatened to kill you if she said anything. Bit different than just a threat of herself, don't you think?"

"Yes, but she should've known better."

"I'm gonna look through the rest of her phone and see what else is on it."

After a few minutes, she found a thirty-second recording and listened to it.

There was a staticky silence before the sound of Lucy crying out in surprise, then her mouth was quickly covered, a slight scraping of shoes on pavement, and a dull thud and a scream of pain from Lucy, then the recording cut out.

"Ally, I think Lucy knew what was going to happen, and was trying to record it, there's an audio recording here."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and it sounds like how the attack started off."

* * *

_Oh my god I've finally finished this chapter! It's insanely late, I know, but I've had a huge project to work on the past few weeks and hadn't a moment to write (but it was finally finished on Thursday!). _

_Comment if you want me to post another chapter of this for Christmas or if you want me to write a oneshot (you'll have to give me a prompt though). I'll be working on the next chapter to at least have it posted for the 30-31st/1st so it hopefully won't be late. Holidays are messing with my schedule though, my apologies. _

_~girlycathy~_


	11. Proof

_I haven't written in awhile, I know... Writing this bit hasn't been at the top of my list recently, but I've finally got the next part. I've been coming up with other stuff, also going into this story, and trying to correct my upcoming plotline. Sorry, I can't tell you how soon another part will be coming._

_Enjoy!_

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

10: Proof

* * *

_Previously:_

_After a few minutes, she found a thirty-second recording and listened to it._

_There was a staticky silence before the sound of Lucy crying out in surprise, then her mouth was quickly covered, a slight scraping of shoes on pavement, and a dull thud and a scream of pain from Lucy, then the recording cut out._

_"Ally, I think Lucy knew what was going to happen, and was trying to record it, there's an audio recording here."_

_"Really?"_

_"Yeah, and it sounds like how the attack started off."_

* * *

That night, after the two had left, Lucy was trying to make sense of all she had been told.

Neither of them had any foolproof evidence that they weren't kidnapping her, so they could just be lying, but it was unlikely because the officers from Scotland Yard had told her she was safe with them.

They'd also told her she had amnesia, and didn't remember any of the past four years of her life. In four years she could've moved to London and gotten a job there and met them. Four years is a long time.

But it was still confusing. She was supposed to be in Yorkshire, her boyfriend must be worried sick about her.

Her boyfriend! He wasn't there. And she'd spent a month and a half in the hospital. Usually by now any relations of hers would've been notified...which would only be her boyfriend but for some reason he hadn't come to see her.

What had happened in the past four years of her life? What had happened before she was brought to that room? And how did she get amnesia?

The siblings listened to the recording.

"You're right, it sounds like how she was attacked. But there's no leads that could come from this, and no way to determine the assailant from this. Why did she keep all this from us?"

"I guess she thought if she recorded the entire event, there'd be enough evidence to find the attacker. She thought she could handle it all on her own, then when he attacked her she could have him locked away. The conversation between the two of them had enough threats of if she ever spilled a word of this to anyone for her to try something on her own."

"I suppose..."

There was silence for a few moments before Deirdre spoke up again, slightly changing the subject.

"Do you think we have enough proof to show Lucy we weren't attacking her? Like what would it take for her to stop thinking we were kidnapping her?"

"We have evidence that she knew it would happen, but I doubt that's enough." He thought for a moment, continuing, "Although...there was the conversation on her phone."

"Maybe she'll even know who it was and we'll get a lead!"

"I doubt it, but it wouldn't hurt to show her."

"What time is it?" Deirdre asked, glancing at the clock. "Oh my god, it's four forty-five, hospital doesn't open till like seven," she continued, answering her own question.

"Eight," Alfendi corrected.

"Whatever. Let's just show her the phone tomorrow."

"Alright."

"I'm going to sleep, wake me up when we're going."

"What makes you think I'll be awake then?"

"You're always awake, just wake me up then or something, I don't know," she replied, propping her legs up on the arm of the chair.

"That's not a good place to sleep."

"Don't care," she answered immediately, her voice slightly muffled because her head was turned away, and she fell asleep within minutes while Alfendi continued looking through all the evidence and the scene, trying to figure out exactly what happened.

The next morning, Alfendi woke up Deirdre at seven.

She stood up, immediately moving her hand to massage the back of her neck, complaining, "Oh my god my neck hurts like hell!"

"I told you not to sleep there."

"No, you said it's not a good place to sleep, and I said I didn't care," she retorted, moving her head around to relieve the pain. "Did you stay awake all night?"

"Yes."

"Doing what? We ran out of things to look over."

"Relooking over what we had found."

"It's not good for you to stay up all night."

"And getting two hours of sleep is?"

"It's better."

"I'll be fine."

The two drove back to the hospital and went into the room where Lucy was.

"So it's not exactly proof that we were helping you per say, but we wanted to show you something we found while looking through evidence," Deirdre began as she walked into the room, carrying Lucy's messenger bag.

"Is 'at my bag?"

Deirdre nodded. "We took a few things out, mostly cuz I'm pretty sure the hospital wouldn't want us bringing them in in the first place, but otherwise everything's there. Mostly I wanna show you your phone. There's a conversation on it from a few days before you were attacked between you and some blocked number," she continued, handing Lucy the bag.

She looked at Deirdre curiously. "What'd you take out?"

"Just the pepper spray, I think," she answered, glancing back at Alfendi to double-check, and he nodded in return.

She tossed the bag to Lucy, sitting in one of the plastic chairs, Alfendi in the other while Lucy began searching through her bag to see what was and wasn't there.

She pulled the file out. "What's this?"

"That's...Ally, care to explain?"

"You can open it. It's yours, anyways."

She opened it, reading through the case and seeing the photographs, her eyes widening at the sight. "Where did you get this?"

"It was in your bag."

"But...I thought I...th-this shouldn't be here. It..."

"Where should it be then?"

"Not in my bag. It's t-too important...," she trailed off, her eyes filling with tears.

Then she closed the file, slipping it back into the bag. She wiped her eyes and cleared her throat slightly before asking, "So what'd ya wanna show me?"

"The phone. Look through the last conversation."

She turned on the phone. "It's locked," Lucy noted, looking down at the screen, "what's the passcode?"

"Oh, riiiiight..." Deirdre remembered, taking the phone from Lucy as Alfendi shot her a stern look, returning it with a sideways smile. "Forgot about that...there you go." She passed the phone back to Lucy, and noticed her brother still giving her a look. "What?"

"You hacked into her phone?"

"I needed to know what was on it. I didn't damage anything on it, honestly," she answered defensively before crossing her legs and smirking, "It's as if you don't trust me, Ally." Then she turned back to Lucy, who was staring at her phone in shock.

"Wh-who sent these messages?"

"We don't know, but someone's working on tracing the numbers, right Ally?"

He nodded, "We'll know sooner or later."

Brief memories flashed abruptly through Lucy's mind, causing a sharp and sudden headache as she read the messages. Quick, short memories of walking down a sidewalk, texting...sending the responses, slightly panicking at the mention of a threat to Alfendi. Lucy dropped the phone and bent her head down, rubbing her temples as the stabbing pain continued.

"Aagggghhhh..."

"Are you alright, Lucy?" Alfendi asked, concern on his face. "You're quite pale..."

"Luce? Lucy?"

The voices sounded distant in her head, and she slumped back against the wall as her eyes rolled back in her head.

Alfendi immediately jumped up, rushing to the door and shouting for a nurse or doctor while Deirdre tried to wake her up, using what she had learned in medical school, unsure of if she had fainted or lost consciousness.

Moments afterwards, a nurse came in, primarily checking that she was still breathing before telling Alfendi and Deirdre that they just need to wait a bit for her to wake up.

After a few minutes, Lucy woke up again, and she sat up, leaning against the wall.

"How do you feel?" the nurse asked.

"Dizzy..." she answered, her body swaying slightly as the room spun around her.

"Lay down," she told her, helping the patient to move away from the wall to lay flat. "When you don't feel dizzy at all, drink this." The nurse placed a glass of orange liquid on the table beside her. She took a clipboard from the table and began writing on it in pencil, presumably noting her state. After a few moments of writing, she abruptly left the room.

After a few minutes of dizziness, Lucy began to sit up slowly, not feeling quite so dizzy. "Is that all ya wanted to show me?"

"Do you remember anything else from the attack?"

She shook her head, the memories having faded from her mind once again. "No, I don't."

"We have one other thing from the scene, you might start to remember," Alfendi replied.

Deirdre asked for her cell phone and Lucy passed over the phone, taking the glass sitting on the nightstand and drinking it while Deirdre pulled up the recording on the device. Playing it, Lucy listened to the screams, the memory of that moment flashing through her mind, causing her to choke on the liquid, creating a coughing fit only stopped by the entrancement of the memory playing through her mind.

She'd turned her phone on, starting a recording before hiding it in her hand. She was walking, when she'd been yanked by a strong grip into the alleyway, slammed against a jagged wall, her screams muted by a hand over her mouth as the phone crashed to the ground.

"Lucy, are you okay?" Alfendi asked while Deirdre took the half-empty glass from her shaking fingers, the brunette coughing violently, bending over her drawn-up knees.

The memory stabbed through her mind and she begun to feel dizziness with an oncoming headache.

"Are you okay?" Alfendi asked, and she didn't respond for a few minutes, continuing to cough, her lungs dispelling all of the liquid she'd inhaled.

"I-I'm fine," she replied, her voice slightly hoarse and wavering as she pressed her cold hands against her forehead, trying to relieve her headache.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, looking back up, her hand pressed against her head still. "J-just a 'eadache."

"Do you remember anything else?"

"I-I remembered...that scene. But I can't now."

"Remembered?"

"It...flashed in my 'ead for a minute. But I don't remember it anymore."

"Nothing?"

She nodded. "Nowt."

"Damn it," Deirdre muttered under her breath. "But do you at least believe us?"

Lucy thought for a moment before responding. "Aye. But it's all so confusing..."

"You mean the amnesia?"

She nodded. "That and how it all 'appened."

"That's what we've been trying to figure out, too. We can show you the scene tomorrow, when you're released if you want."

She nodded slightly. "Aye...maybe that'll help me remember."

* * *

_Hope you liked it! Comment, vote, just reading it is encouragement!_

_Thanks for sticking with me, I'm so inconsistent and say I'll post then don't...sorry about that. I try._

_~girlycathy~_


	12. First Day

_FRICK THIS DIDN'T GO UP BEFORE THE NEXT CHAPTER_

_SO SO SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION_

_SO SO SORRY_

_This is the actual chapter 11, the next is 12, if that was confusing you it's cuz I screwed up._

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

11: First Day

* * *

_Previously:_

_"But do you at least believe us?"_

_Lucy thought for a moment before responding. "Aye. But it's all so confusing..."_

_"You mean the amnesia?"_

_She nodded. "That and how it all 'appened."_

_"That's what we've been trying to figure out, too. We can show you the scene tomorrow, when you're released if you want."_

_She nodded slightly. "Aye...maybe that'll help me remember."_

* * *

The siblings returned to the hospital just as the visiting hours began.

"Lucy! Ready to be off?" Deirdre asked.

"Aye! The doc jus' wanted to do one last check-up to make sure there aren't any long lasting injuries."

"Alright, when will that-"

The door opened, and a doctor came in. Deirdre immediately recognized him as the one who had removed Lucy from the life support, and the one who had tried figuring out what was wrong with her wrists, and stepped ever so subtly behind her brother.

"Deirdre-"

"Shh!"

The two were asked to leave while the doctor checked up Lucy, and he talked to them after checking up on her.

"We want her to return within one week to double-check the injuries on the back of her head. So far as we could tell, it didn't damage her brain, but if she shows any odd symptoms, most likely with her vision, bring her back immediately so we can do a scan."

"Alright," Alfendi replied, Deirdre mumbling the same behind him.

"And we stitched up the back of her head, but make sure she doesn't injure it again or the wound might reopen."

Lucy was already gathering all of her stuff together and dressed in a simple gray sweater and jeans that Deirdre had brought for her when they walked in, Deirdre asking, "Ready to go?"

"Aye, just about!" Lucy replied happily, putting the last of her things into the messenger bag the Laytons had brought her the day before. As she began walking, however, she tripped, falling into Alfendi, who thankfully caught her.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Aye, just tripped is all. Ready?" she asked, brushing off the moment of clumsiness, though she walked unsteadily, as though she were wearing six-inch stilettos.

"Lucy, you sure you're okay?"

"Aye, I'm fine! Stop worrying," she laughed. "I 'aven't walked in over a month, it'll take a bit."

They left, and that day Alfendi and Deirdre were taking Lucy to the Mystery Room to show her it all.

"I remember this room...," Lucy said upon entering it.

"Remember it...from working here or just a month and a half ago?" Deirdre asked.

"Just that night..."

"Oh. Hey, Ally, can you show her the scene of the alleyway? It might help her remember something."

"Alright." He switched the Reconstruction Machine on, letting it load up before he set it to show the alleyway. "Here, look at this, Lucy."

She looked at the scene of the alleyway covered in blood, although they had already removed her body by that time, her bag and hat sitting off to the side, the cracked mobile beside them.

She could barely remember it, like she was watching it happen from miles away, and the memories induced by listening to the recording and seeing the messages came back. It was like her mind was trying to help her remember, but there was some obstacle in the way.

"I-I can't remember anything...," she began quietly, not wanting to disappoint them. "It's jus' not coming back to me."

"That's fine, Lucy. Don't worry about it, it'll come back to you sooner or later." Then Alfendi went on to load up a moderately easy case to teach Lucy how to use the machine.

After about a few hours, Deirdre stopped Alfendi.

"Um, Ally...," she began.

"What?" he asked, glancing over at his sister.

"Luce." He glanced over at her.

She looked exhausted, leaning against the wall and half asleep. "I-I'm fine," she began, trying to convince them, but they didn't hear it.

"Lucy, you need to rest," Alfendi told her.

"I'm perfectly fine...," but the phrase went to deaf ears as Alfendi was already leading her towards the couch, and she practically fell onto it when she tripped, the toe of her shoe colliding with the heel of the other.

"Lucy, you can't overwork yourself. Just rest and we'll continue this later," Alfendi continued, sending her a gentle smile.

Deirdre and Alfendi worked on cases that had been long since overdue in silence as she slept. She awoke after a couple of hours, fully rested and ready to return to work. Alfendi continued working on the case with Lucy while Deirdre worked on other cases.

After a few minutes, Alfendi noticed she constantly had her hand against her forehead or was rubbing her temples.

"Do you have a headache?"

"Eh? A bit...it'll go away, it's fine."

"You can take some aspirin," Alfendi told her. "I'll be right back," he said, leaving the room supposedly for aspirin.

Just as he left, Lucy flopped down onto the couch on her back, before immediately regretting it. The headache that pounded through her head wasn't worth it, and the energy it took to do that made her want to sleep for hours.

"Luce, why are you trying to ignore it?"

"Ignore what?"

"The fact that you're _not_ completely fine. You're trying to avoid resting, trying to act like you're perfectly fine after a head injury that had you comatose for a month and a half."

"Because it's frustrating! I feel so useless, I can't remember anything, I don't know how to work that machine, and I just don't have any energy at all!"

"And you're constantly dizzy."

"Aye! It's not fair!" she complained, sitting up on her elbows.

Deirdre answered just as Alfendi walked back in, "Luce, I think we should take you back to the hospital."

"What are you talking about?" Alfendi asked.

"She's constantly dizzy, exhausted after only a few hours, and her head is hurting," Deirdre answered, turning to Alfendi. "That's not normal."

"It's just because I were out for so long!" Lucy insisted.

"Then you simply have to rest more until you get your strength up again."

"But..." She tried to protest, but she didn't have anything to say, and she just groaned in frustration, falling back onto the sofa and once again regretting it. "Fine..."

That night, Alfendi and Deirdre walked Lucy back to her apartment.

"Here it is," Alfendi said.

"I'm assuming there are keys somewhere in your bag, Luce?" Deirdre asked.

"Aye...," she mumbled, searching through her bag to find the set of keys. "Ah, found 'em," she said, pulling a set of a few keys out. She quickly unlocked the door and opened it, and all three of them went inside.

"Just like I remember it," Lucy began, walking through the flat. "Except there's more stuff. And it's all out of the boxes." She went down the hall towards her bedroom, and upon seeing it, repeated, "Definitely more stuff."

"Wait, you've been living here since you were eighteen?" Deirdre asked as Lucy walked back out into the main room.

"Aye."

"How did you afford it?"

"I worked a few part-time jobs at first to get the money for it. I think after awhile I probably got the job at t' Mystery Room, and it were enough to pay for it, but I don't remember it all."

"Right...sorry," she mumbled.

"It's fine."

The room was quiet for a few moments before Lucy leaned back against the wall, yawning.

"I should go to sleep soon, before I fall asleep 'ere," Lucy said.

"Alright, should we leave now?"

"Sure," Deirdre answered. "And...we'll pick you up around...eight thirty?"

"I can go there myself, it's fine," Lucy replied.

"You've been out of the hospital for one day. How are you going to know how to get there?"

"I'll be fine."

"Hows about we pick you up tomorrow morning at least," Deirdre suggested. "Luce, it's been one day. It's just going to take a bit for you to be completely fine."

She was silent for a few moments before conceding, "Alright, fine."

"Awesome, then we'll see you tomorrow morning, eight thirty."

"Alright. Eight thirty," Lucy repeated.

* * *

_Once more, I'm hoping to have the next chapter up by next Monday, but that's probably being too hopeful...but I don't know. I'm going to start finishing it up now, there's a chance it'll be done today (depends on what I feel like). I just don't want to say it'll be up and then not have it up (because I've done that too many times before)._

_~girlycathy~_


	13. Nightmares

_Just took my AP chemistry test yesterday! Easy, in my opinion. Anyone taking AP tests these next two weeks? If so, good luck!_

_This is a fairly long chapter, compared to the others. Near 2k words, which I believe is my longest chapter...so at least there's that to make up for my lateness once again!_

_Umm...nothing much else to say. I want to post more, as you might've seen I started getting back into writing some prompts with my friend, unaicorn (only on Wattpad I believe). So check those out, might like them. They're not fanfic, just original stuff. Mine I believe is called Writing Prompts, there's so far three parts -comment if you want them on this site, I've only got them up on Wattpad at the moment._

_I posted this on Wattpad a few days ago, and yesterday posted the chapter after this, so sorry to any FF-limited readers. It's hard to post by mobile on here, but the two chapters are coming up here together._

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

12: Nightmares

* * *

_Previously:_

_"Hows about we pick you up tomorrow morning at least," Deirdre suggested. "Luce, it's been one day. It's just going to take a bit for you to be completely fine."_

_She was silent for a few moments before conceding, "Alright, fine."_

_"Awesome, then we'll see you tomorrow morning, eight thirty."_

_"Alright. Eight thirty," Lucy repeated._

* * *

She_ crossed the street and turned to the right around the corner, pausing to take out her phone and set it to record, hiding it in her left hand. As she walked, her arm was caught by a strong grip._

_"'Ey-mmph!" She tried to scream but her mouth was quickly covered. She cried out in pain as she was slammed against a rough wall, the bricks scraping her back and cutting into her head and neck. She could hear her bag hitting the ground along with her mobile, and she inwardly groaned, knowing the phone would turn off at an impact like that, if it wasn't completely destroyed. _

_Through the stinging pain, she glared back at her masked attacker, though she could feel her hand starting to tingle as the attacker cut off circulation to it. She pulled on her arm, hoping the pouring rain would let it slip from their grip before she kicked the person in the leg and yanked her arm away, trying to escape, but they only tightened their grip on her arm as she felt it numbing and she was pulled back and pressed against the wall again, her attacker moving his arm to restrain her against the wall, his other hand wrapped tightly around her forearm. _

_"What do ya want?" she demanded, masking her fear. _

_"I don't believe you're in the place to ask questions, Miss _Baker_," the masked man replied, shocking her with the use of her name. _

_She tried to sound confident, but her voice caught as she spoke. "H-how do ya-"_

_"Didn't I just say, it's not your place to ask questions, _Lucy_?" he threatened, choking her with a hand wrapped around her neck, shoving her up against the wall. She could feel wounds forming and stinging as blood was exposed to oxygen, her toes barely touching the ground as he cut off her air flow. _

_The way he threatened her and the way he spoke her name sent shudders down her spine, and her eyes widened and she choked out a yelp of fright, pulling at his hand with her fingers, trying to pry it off of her. _

She woke up, knowing she was conscious, but was unable to breathe or even open her eyes. She felt like she was being strangled, as in her nightmare, yet she couldn't struggle or move any of her muscles this time. She could feel the sensation of something wrapping it's hands around her neck, cutting off her breath. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, but still couldn't move or struggle against her attacker.

Slowly, after a minute or so, she passed out.

An hour later, she woke up, quickly sitting up and backing against the headrest at her bed, drawing her knees up and wrapping her arms over her shoulders, protecting herself from the earlier sensation.

She frantically looked around in the pitch black darkness before gradually her breathing slowed and her heart stopped racing. She was terrified to sleep again for fear of the same nightmare or attack, and she glanced at her clock. She sighed, reading the digital numbers.

2:53 AM

She thought through her dream, thinking about what the person had said to her, as it dawned upon her who had attacked her in her dream. At this realization, she began crying. She tried to convince herself she was wrong, telling herself it was only a dream, and that it wasn't real, denying the signs that it was what actually happened, denying the fact that she _remembered_ it happening.

When she finally stopped crying, she sat up and reached for her phone on her nightstand, but her vision refused to adjust to the darkness, effectively blinding her. She tried to find her nightstand by reaching for it, but ended up only banging her hand against the corner.

Now that she knew generally where her nightstand was, she continued to try to find her phone, one spot on the back of her hand burning, but she only found it when she knocked it off the edge. She knew it would be impossible to find it without being able to see and so decided to look at it in the morning.

The dream had been so crystal clear, like a memory, but at the same time, it had felt like an unreal nightmare, and it frightened her beyond words, so much more because of the other man attacking her, because of who he was to her, _is_ to her.

Finally, she stopped crying, slowly sitting up in her bed again. Glancing over at the clock, it said, "4:03 AM." She shakily stood up, wanting to walk to her kitchen for a glass of water.

She stood up, feeling unbalanced in the space. She hesitantly took a step in the blinding darkness, unsure of if her dizziness would be more or less noticeable if she couldn't see. She kept her arms out in front of her, trying to find a wall to follow.

Finding the wall, she felt unstable when she walked, leaning into the wall for support and dragging her hand along it for direction.

She walked straight into the doorframe, and pressed her fingers to her nose and forehead to relieve the pain before she continued walking around the doorframe down the hall, losing her energy with every hesitant step.

She reached the corner of her hall, stopping to lean against the corner to regain some of her energy and to try to relieve some of the dizziness plaguing her, the air feeling insufficient to her deprived lungs.

She could barely remember before the incident, when she didn't have to sleep through half the day just to manage for the rest, when she could see in darkness like this, and when she could walk without dizziness threatening to send her to the ground.

Then she realized that she still couldn't remember the past four years of her life, and she broke down in tears again, sliding down the wall, arms wrapping around her knees, head resting on her arms as she cried.

She wanted to remember, she wanted to remember the past years, but she couldn't accept that that terrible nightmare was part of her missing memory. It was unthinkable.

She made her way back to her bedroom, and spent the next hours before she would've woken there, trying to fall asleep and rethinking through her dream, trying to find any signs that it was fake, but to her horror, failing.

Around six-thirty, Lucy started to get ready for the day. Alfendi and Deirdre had said they would pick her up at eight thirty, and she couldn't stand finding any other truths within the dream.

She showered and washed her face, removing all traces that she was crying, and ate breakfast before placing her dishes in the sink, quickly rinsing them.

She heard them talking, and she opened the door before they could knock.

"...and she's perfectly capable of-"

"Hey, Luce, ready to go?"

Lucy nodded, masking her emotions of that morning with a slightly forced smile. "Aye, just give me a minute."

"Alright."

She quickly slipped on her shoes and jacket, sliding the strap of her bag onto her shoulder and latching it shut, saying, "Ready!"

"Let's go then," Deirdre said.

Just as Lucy walked out the door, she remembered her phone. "Oh, wait, I forgot my phone! I'll be right back!"

She went back into the building, dropping her bag on the floor by the door, and walking to her room, wanting to run but knowing her dizziness destroyed the ability. At first, she panicked when she didn't see it on her nightstand, quickly checking her pockets, before remembering that she dropped it in the middle of the night.

Dropping to her knees, it wasn't under her bed or on the floor in front of the nightstand. She finally found it behind the nightstand, having fallen into the corner.

Seeing it, there was a missed call from a blocked number from the night before. She wanted to call back right then to see who it was, but she had to go to work, and Alfendi and Deirdre were waiting for her. Sighing, she took the phone back out to her bag, slipping it in, and heading back outside.

"Hey, what happened? You were in there for a solid ten minutes," Deirdre asked.

"Oh, I dropped my mobile last night and 'ad to find it."

"Ah, I've done that. Got everything now?"

"I'm pretty sure."

The three of them walked to Scotland Yard, heading into the building and into the Mystery Room. Their routine was planned to be that of the day before: work on cases, Alfendi helping Lucy with the Reconstruction Machine while Deirdre simply read through the case files and looked at evidence to solve them, and every few hours the siblings catching Lucy falling asleep and insisting she rest.

Except today, Lucy was falling asleep as she entered the room.

"Are you okay, Luce?"

"Huh? Oh, aye..."

"When did you wake up this morning?"

"Um...I don't remember...," she answered, avoiding looking at either of them.

"Lucy-"

Deirdre cut in, repeating, "What time did you wake up?"

"I-I think...about three..."

"Luce! What-"

"Why were you up at three?" Alfendi asked, sending Deirdre a sharp glare.

She didn't look at either of them, looking down and nervously fidgeting.

"I...woke up and couldn't sleep..."

"Why did you wake up?"

"I-I 'ad a nightmare..." Simply thinking about it terrified her, and she didn't want to continue.

"What was it about?"

"I-I, um...don't...remember...," she lied, stuttering.

"Luce-"

"If it happens to come back to you, you can tell either of us," Alfendi cut in swiftly before his sister could speak, showing her irritation through a glare towards him.

Lucy relaxed slightly at the statement. She could tell they knew she was lying, but they had no intention of making her talk about it. "Aye, I will. And in the meantime, where's the next case?"

* * *

_Haha...not a good ending...but I posted! And that ending will be fine for transitioning to the next chapter._

_~girlycathy~_


	14. Stress

_I'm getting back into my writing again! I can't guarantee anything of how often I'll be posting, but I had some time and inspiration. I don't know when the next post'll be though, but here you go! And near 2k words again!_

_I will say however that I've been working on the next chapter, and it's pretty far. I'm hoping to get it up soon, as just posting these two chapters has made me so so happy, so I'm really hoping to get that up soon! And since it's the weekend, it should be up on FF at the same time as on Wattpad. (hopefully)_

_Enjoy!_

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

13: Stress

* * *

_Previously:_

_"I-I 'ad a nightmare..." Simply thinking about it terrified her, and she didn't want to continue._

_"What was it about?"_

_"I-I, um...don't...remember...," she lied, stuttering._

_"Luce-"_

_"If it happens to come back to you, you can tell either of us," Alfendi cut in swiftly before his sister could speak, showing her irritation through a glare towards him._

_Lucy relaxed slightly at the statement. She could tell they knew she was lying, but they had no intention of making her talk about it. "Aye, I will. And in the meantime, where's the next case?"_

* * *

They continued working on cases all day, trying to make up for all the cases that had piled up while Lucy was in a coma. They managed get through a few cases before the day ended, and the three walked back to Lucy's flat, walking her home.

She tossed and turned for a over an hour before finally falling asleep, afraid of another nightmare or another attack like the night before

_The way he threatened her and the way he spoke her name sent shudders down her spine, and her eyes widened as she choked out a yelp of fright. She pulled at his hand with her fingers, trying to pry it off of her neck as he cut off her airway. _

_"You deserve to suffer the pain I felt! You deserve to lose everyone you love!"_

_"You didn't love me!" she managed to protest, having pulled his hand off her throat enough for a breath, and she used her hands to push him away, taking advantage of his shock. _

_Though she didn't quite make it out of the alleyway. She began coughing, her lungs trying to make up for lost air, stumbling as her wrists were caught in a tight grip and she was yanked back, the sockets of her arms protesting painfully. Her hat fluttered to the ground in front of her alongside her cracked phone, and she screamed in pain as he swung her into the wall using her momentum against her. Hot blood trickled down her neck, hands and neck scraping against the wall._

_"Get off o' me!" she screamed, kicking him and trying again to run, though he tripped her ankle and she fell onto the rough cement, trying to catch her fingers onto something as he dragged her by her leg to the back of the alleyway. _

_"Stop!" she screamed, trying to kick him as she sucked in her breath, trying to avoid her stomach being skinned from dragging against the rough cement, her tights tearing on rocks, her knee cut deeply as she tried to kick him. He pulled her up and shoved her against the wall again, a sharp protruding rock stabbing into the back of her head, and blood poured down her neck and soaked her jacket. Her vision quickly blurred from pain as her eyes welled with tears, the pain and blood loss overwhelming her. _

She awoke, her head hurting, all her wounds stinging and she felt dizzy, even laying down.

She slowly sat up, leaning against the wall behind her bed for support, feeling as though she was about to faint, the room spinning before her.

Thinking back through her dream, she realized her worst fear had been confirmed, and she began crying. Her assailant had been the one person she feared it would be, the one person she trusted with her life.

_"You didn't love me!"_

Didn't he? She thought he loved her, he acted like it now, and would never hurt her, especially like this. At the thought, her tears only flow faster.

It couldn't be him.

It wasn't possible.

She denied the memory, tried to push the thoughts out of her mind. She couldn't believe this, just as the night before. It couldn't have been him. It wasn't possible.

She looked at the clock to find it was barely two thirty. The dizziness had faded, if only slightly, and Lucy slipped back under her blankets, wide awake.

For the next five hours, she laid there, tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep, but her mind was overflowing with thoughts and ideas and it kept her wide awake the entire time.

She slowly rose around seven o'clock, having been crying on and off as her mind had overflowed with ideas of what could've happened between her and her assailant for the incident to happen, for him to attack her.

Slowly standing up, she was left with a headache from crying. She washed her face with soap and water to remove traces of tears, showering and eating just as the day before, and the headache faded to the point that it was barely noticeable.

Once again, she heard Alfendi and Deirdre talking before they even knocked. However, this time, she let them continue talking, waiting until they knocked to open the door.

"...but really, just to be safe."

"I think she's fine, Deirdre. Let's just wait and see," he continued. She could hear that they'd stopped on the porch, their voices distant.

There was a pause, before Deirdre answered, "Fine."

They walked to the door, their footsteps quiet, before they knocked.

She answered the door, greeting them as though she hadn't heard their conversation, before the three walked to Scotland Yard and the Mystery Room.

Just like the day before, Lucy was nearly falling asleep as she walked in, but tried to fight it.

She lasted about a half an hour, until a painful headache formed at her temples. The screen of the Reconstruction Machine had suddenly become too bright, the slight rustling of paper too loud. She stepped back and looked down, hands covering her eyes and shrouding them in shadow to try to relieve the throbbing pain, her exhaustion becoming more and more evident.

"Lucy? Are you alright?" Alfendi asked, glancing up at her.

"Um, a-aye...j-just a...headache...," she managed.

"You don't sound okay," Deirdre noted from her position on the couch.

Alfendi stood, walking over to her before taking her arm and pulling her towards the couch. She immediately lost her balance, tripping over her own feet and falling into him. He caught her, keeping her upright, and she moaned as the sudden movement increased the pain in her head. She kept her eyes closed, hands covering them and inhibiting her ability to balance.

Deirdre stood, closing and tossing the case file onto the floor as she took Lucy's other arm, and the siblings led her back to the couch carefully. She laid down, hands continuing to cover her eyes.

Deirdre immediately ran out of the room, letting the door slam behind her, and the loud sound increased the pain in her head once again.

She didn't know what was happening, why her head was hurting so badly. Any light hurt, any sound hurt, the slamming door especially, and sudden movement was immensely painful.

Deirdre came back in, and Alfendi was careful to not let the door slam, having noticed how much it'd hurt for Lucy.

His sister had brought cool washcloths and placed them across Lucy's forehead and moved her hands to place them over her eyes. She shuddered for a moment from the coldness, before she could feel it beginning to relieve her headache, just slightly. Along with that, the cloths over her eyes blocked a fair amount of light, and it was almost pitch black after Deirdre turned off the main lights in the room, the sunlight from the window providing the only brightness in the room. The dark and cold in combination relieved some of her headache, but it was still painfully there.

"Luce," Deirdre spoke softly, kneeling by her, trying not to bother her headache. "Is it too loud if we work in here?"

At first she didn't respond, but after a moment answered, "No..." She didn't want them to have to keep from working just because of her.

"Are you sure? Is it going to bother your headache?"

"Aye, I'm sure," she repeated.

"Okay. Tell me if your headache gets any worse."

"Okay."

Lucy quickly fell asleep, exhaustion overtaking her. After a couple hours, she woke again, sitting up slowly and moving the cloths from her forehead and eyes, wincing at the bright lights that awaited her.

"Luce, is your head still hurting?"

"Aye...," she mumbled, covering her eyes with her hands once again.

"Has it gotten any better?"

"...no."

"Why don't we take you home? I think it'd be better for you, you'd feel better."

"I'm...I'm okay..."

"Lucy, if your head is hurting this badly, you should be at home resting instead of here."

"I-I'm fine, really. It's...not that bad anymore..."

"Lucy, don't overwork yourself," Alfendi told her. "We'll take you home."

He stood up, beginning to close up the cases, and Deirdre did the same.

"R-really...I'm fine...," she protested.

"Lucy, you don't look anywhere near fine. It's obvious the light is bothering you even though the lights are still off, meaning your headache isn't gone, and you trying to continue working isn't going to help."

She really wasn't fine, but didn't want to cause them to become even more behind on cases or go out of their way for her. But her head was still hurting painfully, the sounds and lights only making it worse, and some of her vision was gone, like dirty spots on a pair of glasses.

"Come on, we'll take you home."

They helped her stand, the dizziness almost causing her to trip. They walked her home, taking her by her arms so she wouldn't fall.

Once at her house, she was led inside. They ate before Deirdre took Lucy to her room. She laid down on her bed, and Deirdre took some washcloths and soaked them in cold water before putting them across Lucy's forehead and eyes again. She turned off the lights and closed the blinds as much as she could before leaving and quietly shutting the door.

Alfendi and Deirdre worked on cases in her living room, staying quiet to not bother Lucy. She fell asleep once again, finally releasing the stress of working, as Alfendi and Deirdre had told her not to work for the rest of the day.

When she awoke a few hours later, the headache had gone, and she removed the cloths and slowly took them to the bathroom, leaning against the wall for support in the dark.

Dumping the washcloths on the counter, she flipped on the light switch, bright light blinding her momentarily. Her eyes adjusted and she made her way out of the bathroom, wondering what the time was.

She walked to her kitchen, looking at the clock there. Four o'clock.

"Lucy, are you feeling any better?" Alfendi asked.

"Aye, my headache's almost gone."

"Good."

The three worked on cases for an hour, completing one more, before Alfendi and Deirdre left.

Lucy ate dinner before going to her room. She picked up her mobile, quickly dialing a number she knew by memory.

"Lucy?" a male voice asked with confusion.

"Aye," she replied.

"What's up?" he asked slowly, slightly cautiously.

She took a breath. "Did ya hear about what 'appened to me?"

"No, what happened?"

"I...were attacked and in a coma for a month and a 'alf...and I lost a few years of my memory."

"Oh, but you're okay now, right?"

"Mostly...there's a bad cut ont' back of my 'ead," she answered, touching the wound subconsciously.

"Do you want to see me?"

She audibly released a breath she didn't realize she was holding and replied with smiling relief, "Aye, I were just about to ask."

"I can head over there if you'd like."

"Sure, do you need the address?"

"No, I have it."

"How soon can you come?"

"It's fairly close, so probably in a day or so, I have some work beforehand. How long should I stay?"

"Whatever works for you," she answered, smiling.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow," he replied, and she could tell he was smiling.

"Aye! See ya!"

She hung up the phone, placing it on her nightstand.

She needed him to come. She needed to know she was wrong, that her nightmares were just that: nightmares. They weren't her memories, and he would prove that to her.

* * *

So_ I just went through basically every chapter to the story, adding a "Previously" because personally, if I haven't read the story in awhile, I forget what's happened before and I just like it myself, sorry if it bothers anyone, along with dividing up the chapters (just adding the horizontal lines between the Author's Note and chapter title and Previously and actual text and all)...along with I hadto change something in Chapter 8ish? because it was wrong...small little detail, not too important, so it's not like you have to go reread it all._

_Also if you're wondering about that little note on Chapter 11: First Day, it's because I posted chapters 12 and 13 beforehand, forgetting that Chapter 1 is just a note, and thinking my chapter 10 was chapter 11...confusing to me, but it's all worked out and fine, so no worries. I'm sure nobody's reading this immediately after I post anyways._

_And if it sends you like a million emails because of all the editing I did to each chapter...sorry. My apologies. Hopefully it didn't._

_And as always, thank you for continuing to read my story, it makes me really happy to see comments and reviews and seeing that people are actually reading it~ Thank you all_

_~girlycathy~_


	15. Reunions

_Omg three chapters in a week! New record XD_

_But honestly, you have no idea how happy simply posting chapters makes me! Even if they get no reads or whatnot (although I will say comments and reviews only add to the joy), it makes me immensely happy just to post! And comment if you like them!_

_Enjoy!_

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

14: Reunion

* * *

_Previously:_

_"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow," he replied, and she could tell he was smiling._

_"Aye! See ya!"_

_She hung up the phone, placing it on her nightstand._

_She needed him to come. She needed to know she was wrong, that her nightmares were just that: nightmares. They weren't her memories, and he would prove that to her._

* * *

Lucy had called Deirdre and Alfendi to tell them she was going to meet someone that day, and for them not to worry about her.

She heard a knock at the door, knowing who it was and immediately jumping up, nearly falling from dizziness.

Answering the door, there was a tall, black-haired young man.

"Tristan!" Lucy exclaimed, rushing forward and wrapping her arms around his neck, hugging him.

"You clearly haven't missed me at all," he teased, returning the hug.

Releasing him, Lucy had a bright smile, and pulled him into the building, closing the door behind them.

"O' course I missed you, I can't remember 'ow long it's been!"

"It's certainly been awhile. What've you been up to recently?"

"Jus' trying to figure things out again. 'Ow about you?" she asked.

"Nothing much."

There was a quiet silence, before Lucy suggested, "Let's go out!"

"Where to?"

"Anywhere!"

He laughed at her enthusiasm, before agreeing. She slipped on her shoes before taking his hand and pulling him out the door again.

They walked along the street, hand in hand. She almost tripped a few times, before Tristan asked if she was okay.

"Aye, it's just...the, um," she stammered, trying to explain, "the head injury. From getting attacked. A-and from being in a coma for a few months. I'm just...dizzy a lot."

"Oh. Are there any other symptoms?"

"Um...aye, I can't really see int' dark. Like my eyes don't adjust."

"Oh. Well, let's be back before dark or I'll have to carry you," he replied with a smirk, and she laughed.

They continued walking until they reached a small park. She pointed across the park, down the street, towards a building. "Over there's Scotland Yard. That's where t' Mystery Room is, where I'm working."

"And when did you get a job?" he teased.

"I 'ad a few jobs to pay for my apartment, you know that," she laughed, before stepping up to her tip-toes to kiss him.

Her eyes closed as she kissed him, his lips soft against hers. She smiled at the contact, having missed it. One hand was at the back of her neck, the other at her back, pulling her closer to him, her arms wrapped around his neck to do the same.

After a few moments, she pulled away for a breath, staying close to him. She smiled at the taller man, until she caught sight of someone behind him.

There was a young man standing behind the couple, staring at her with shock and betrayal clear in his eyes. Instantly she remembered him, her smile falling quickly as her eyes widened, memories flowing through her mind. She subconsciously stepped away from Tristan, shocked at the sight before her.

"R-Ryan..."

Tristan looked back to see the man. "What are you talking about, Lucy?"

"That's..." She stepped away, looking between the two, before walking off, unable to run because of her dizziness. Tristan tried to follow her, but she only said, "I-I need to be alone right now."

He stopped at the words, letting her be alone.

She walked back to her house, resisting the urge to break into a run.

Shutting her door behind her, she sank to the ground, unable to process what she had just witnessed.

She tried to think through the event, organize her thoughts, but they only got more and more jumbled, and tears began to fill her eyes.

She pulled her phone from her pocket, scrolling through her contacts and calling.

"Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up..."

"Hello?"

"Deirdre?"

"Yeah...Luce, what's up?"

"I-I...can you..." She was about to cry. She couldn't understand what was happening, why her thoughts were making no sense.

"Do you want me to meet you?"

"A-aye..."

"Alright, where are you?"

"At m-my flat."

"Okay, give me like ten minutes."

"O-okay...ta," Lucy responded. She hung up, putting her mobile on the floor and leaning her head back against the wall.

It was immense stress from working and trying to figure out her life again combined with suffering the side effects of the coma —the dizziness, inability to see at night, exhaustion— that really taxed her emotional state. The frustration of her contradicting memories only increased the stress, and she began crying.

She heard footsteps, fast, before somewhat frantic knocking on the door.

"Luce?" Deirdre called through the door. Lucy stood up slowly, before opening the door, wiping her eyes.

"Luce! Are you alright?" Deirdre immediately asked.

Lucy shook her head slightly, tearstreaks on her face.

Deirdre stepped in, wrapping Lucy in a hug, who began crying again.

"Luce, what happened?" she asked, releasing Lucy and leading her to the couch, kicking the door shut with her foot.

"I-I..."

They sat on the couch, and Deirdre told her to take a few deep breaths before asking, "So what happened?"

"I-I was meeting up w-with Tristan, my boyfriend...and we went out, just walking along the street over there. A-and we came to the park over there, and I...," she paused, taking a breath. "I-I saw, um...I saw...Ryan..."

"Who's Ryan?" Deirdre asked carefully.

"He's...I don't know..."

"You...don't know? Then...why is this such a big deal?" she asked slowly, trying not to be rude.

"Because...I-I remember 'im...," she answered slowly.

"You...remember him? Then who is he?"

Her voice was quiet as she answered. "'E's...I think...my boyfriend..."

Deirdre was shocked. "Wait, what? He's your boyfriend? How is that possible?"

"I-I...I don't know..."

"Well...wait, how much did you say you forgot?"

She tilted her head in confusion. "What?"

"With the coma, and you lost your memory...," she trailed off, reminding her.

"Oh, since I were eighteen. So four years."

"Well, then probably at some point during then you broke up with Tristan.

"But...then why is he...acting like he's still my boyfriend?"

"I guess he's...I don't know, Luce. Maybe it's just...a mistake. Maybe your memory's off. I really don't know."

"A-aye. Th-that's probably it...my memory's off." But she didn't believe it. She knew she was telling herself lies.

Deirdre stayed over for the night, calling Alfendi and telling him she'd meet him at the Mystery Room in the morning. He reluctantly agreed, after the two argued for a few minutes.

She slept out on the couch. She could hear Lucy tossing and turning in her bed, knowing it was because of Tristan and that day's events.

Lucy fell asleep after a couple hours, exhaustion finally overtaking her.

_He pulled her up and shoved her against the wall again, a sharp protruding rock stabbing into the back of her head, and blood poured down her neck and soaked her jacket. Her vision quickly blurred from pain as her eyes welled with tears, the pain and blood loss overwhelming her._

_"'O-ow can ya...d-do this ta me?" Lucy asked, voice wavering as she struggled to stay awake, and she could feel her body numbing and shutting down._

_"Because I'm over you. Because now I've seen what a heartless bitch you really are. And you deserve this. You deserve to die for what you've done," he replied, slipping a razor-sharp knife from his sleeve. "But first, you need to feel the pain I've felt."_

_Lucy let tears roll down her cheeks, and he pushed up her sleeve and began slicing deep cuts across her arm, so many that her flesh became a bloody mess that would be hidden by the sleeve later on. Glancing down, she couldn't feel anything but seeing the immense amount of blood welling out of an uncountable number of deep slices, she let out a choked sob, another escaping her lips when she saw the evil smirk her assailant wore._

_"Good luck explaining these to your friends later on...assuming you're not dead by then," his cruel voice mocked and echoed in her head as her vision darkened to black, and the only thing she felt was the sensation of falling, a heavy thud against the back of her head, unconscious before she hit the ground._

She woke up.

She felt dizzy again, sitting up and touching the bandages on her arms.

Her eyes welled with tears, finally realizing her nightmares were memories, and tears began slipping down her face. She tried wiping away tears, but they were quickly replaced as she began sniffling.

She heard knocking at the door.

"Luce?"

The door opened, and Deirdre stepped in, closing it behind herself, before switching on the lights, the two girls wincing from the sudden light. "You okay?"

She shook her head, crying. Deirdre sat next to her. "What happened?"

Lucy tried to wipe her eyes, looking down.

"I-I...'ad another nightmare..."

"Can you tell me about them?"

"Um, a-aye..." Lucy told her about the first nightmare, then the second, and finally, the third, noting that they all went in succession.

"You know...that sounds a lot like what could've happened to you, when you were attacked."

"Really?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, we can look at the reconstruction tomorrow if you want to."

"Okay..."

"For now at least try to go back to sleep. You're sleep-deprived as it is, going today without enough sleep means you'll be falling asleep as you walk through the door again."

"Okay...aye..."

"Alright? Night." Then she stood, switched off the lights, and left the room, this time leaving the door half open.

Lucy laid down again, trying to sleep again. All she did was spend a couple hours tossing and turning before she sat up again, noticing a light on past her hallway. She stood up, heading down the hallway to see what it was.

"Luce?" Deirdre asked, sitting up to see her over the back of the couch, having heard her footsteps in the silence. "You're still up?"

"Aye...why's the light on?"

"Oh...I was just...reading, and I guess I left it on."

"Reading?" she asked suspiciously. "Reading what?"

"Just a book," she answered quickly.

"What book?" Lucy asked, noticing no books in sight —only a case file under the coffee table and some papers on top.

"Oh, I-I put it away already..."

"Were you reading that case file?"

Deirdre glanced over at the file peeking out from under the table.

"You can't tell Ally," she started.

Lucy looked at her curiously. "Why not? What case is it?"

"He would be so mad if he found out I took the file."

"What case file is it?" Lucy repeated.

"It's...it's the case from a few years ago, the Forbodium castle one. The one where he was accused, you can't tell him," she repeated.

"What makes ya think he would be upset?"

"Because...because it's like...," she paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain, "it's like...his past, stuff he doesn't want me to know."

"Why doesn't 'e want you to know?"

"He just never has, and he gets mad when I figure it out. Please don't tell him," she pleaded.

Lucy realized then that even though Deirdre almost always argued with Alfendi, she still didn't want to disappoint him, and somewhat looked up to him.

"I won't," she answered.

Deirdre let out a breath of relief. "Thank you. Now you have to go back to sleep, it's like four in the morning I bet," she said, picking the file up off the ground and opening it.

"And are you going to sleep at all?" Lucy asked.

"I'll survive. I'll sleep if I need to," she answered, not looking up at Lucy.

_Jus' like t' Prof._

"You need sleep though, since you already can't stay awake all day even with sleep."

"Alright."

"Night, Luce."

"Night."

She went back to her bedroom, and managed to fall asleep after an hour.

Lucy woke up to Deirdre arguing with someone —most likely Alfendi— on her phone, although obviously trying to keep quiet.

"Ally, just in case! Really— ... I know, but still, this isn't normal! She should at least see a doctor, just to be safe! ... Tell us what? She's already told us about the effects of it all, it could be something major! ... Then, well, we just waste some time! But remember—" Deirdre stopped as she heard Lucy walking towards the main room, quickly hanging up and slipping her phone in her pocket. "Morning, Luce. Did I wake you up?"

"No, you didn't," she lied, not wanting Deirdre to know what she'd heard.

"Okay, good."

The two girls ate breakfast before they walked to the Mystery Room to meet Alfendi.

He was there when they arrived, already halfway through a case. The two greeted him before going to work on cases.

After an hour, Deirdre glanced up at Lucy to see she was falling asleep.

"Luce."

She didn't respond, leaning against the wall.

"Lucy," Alfendi called to her, and this time she answered, sounding tired. "Lucy, why don't you sleep?"

Deirdre stood up, insisting she sleep and pulling her towards the couch to rest. She protested at first, before finally agreeing.

Once she had fallen asleep, Deirdre went over to Alfendi's desk.

"Can I talk to you, Ally?"

"Sure, what about?"

"Lucy...," she began, letting him remember.

"Oh, yes."

She pulled him out of the room, knowing Lucy would be fine. They closed the door quietly before beginning to talk.

"Like I said before, I think she needs to see a doctor. It's not normal to have all these effects of just a coma. I mean, you were in a coma for longer than her, and you didn't have any of these things, right?"

"Yes, but they were different injuries—"

"Yeah, you were shot, and she was hit on the head repeatedly, meaning she could be suffering brain trauma."

He was silent for a moment, and Deirdre continued. "And what I was saying before I hung up the phone was remember what that doctor said? If she has any weird symptoms, to have her go back and get a brain scan. And you have to admit, these are weird symptoms. She has to go back in three days anyways, why not bring her back earlier? It's just in case, there's no harm in getting it done either way."

Finally he was forced to concede. There wasn't any harm in it, and she did have to return soon anyways. "Alright. When?"

"Why not today?"

"Alright. Once she wakes up."

* * *

_Yesssss another chapter done! And I'm going to start the next now, I'm so excited! Just have to double check that the plotline will line up well enough._

_Hope you're enjoying the major amount of chapters being posted all at once! XD_

_And this one was like 2.5k!_

_~girlycathy~_


	16. Heartbreak

15: Heartbreak

* * *

_Previously:_

_"Yeah, you were shot, and she was hit on the head repeatedly, meaning she could be suffering brain trauma."_

_He was silent for a moment, and Deirdre continued. "And what I was saying before I hung up the phone was remember what that doctor said? If she has any weird symptoms, to have her go back and get a brain scan. And you have to admit, these are weird symptoms. She has to go back in three days anyways, why not bring her back earlier? It's just in case, there's no harm in getting it done either way."_

_Finally he was forced to concede. There wasn't any harm in it, and she did have to return soon anyways. "Alright. When?"_

_"Why not today?"_

_"Alright. Once she wakes up."_

* * *

They entered the Mystery Room, noticed Lucy was still asleep, and continued working on cases.

After a couple hours, she woke up, and they told her what they'd been debating for the past few days.

Deirdre took a breath before stating, "I think you should go back to the hospital and get a brain scan."

"What? Why?" Lucy asked, confused.

"Because of all the effects of being attacked and being in a coma. The dizziness, exhaustion... Just to be safe, Luce."

"I'm fine," she insisted. "It'll fade after a bit, it's not even been a week."

"But what if it doesn't?" she asked, finally expressing her concern for Lucy. "What if it's something major, what if they're permanent, what if-"

"I'm fine, Deirdre, and if it 'asn't gone away when I'm supposed to go back, then they can do something about it."

"But-"

"Have you had any issues with your vision?" Alfendi asked suddenly, and she turned to face him.

"Like what?"

"Anything that you noticed only after the incident."

"I mean...," she began, looking down, "I guess. Jus' one thing."

"What is it?" he pressed.

"Just...I can't really see int' dark...at all. Like my eyes won't adjust to t' dark. Why?"

"The doctor told us if you're having any odd effects of the incident, especially with your vision, to bring you back to the hospital immediately. So if your vision hasn't been the same, then I think we should take you to the hospital."

"I-I'm okay..."

"Luce, please? Just in case?" Deirdre pleaded.

Hearing the anxiety in her voice caused Lucy to realize her insistence was purely out of concern for her.

She let out a breath. "Alright."

Deirdre let out a breath of relief. "Thank you, Lucy."

The three walked to the hospital. It took fifteen minutes, and it took a few hours, mostly because of the wait. The doctors said it would take a few weeks before they could get the results, so they would call her and give her the news.

The three returned to the Mystery Room after, arriving around four o'clock. They worked on cases individually, until Deirdre stopped, asking Alfendi if she could talk to him.

She pulled him out of the room to talk, before telling him she'd been working on trying to figure out what'd happened to Lucy at the scene. She'd been using Lucy's nightmares as a timeline of how everything happened, and from there had been trying to find clues based on physical evidence and what Lucy'd told her about -with her boyfriends. Deirdre told Alfendi the basic ideas of what she'd been told, without going into unnecessary detail.

Afterwards, she asked if Alfendi could work on the case, to double check if the conclusion she'd arrived at would match his.

He agreed, before the two reentered the room. Deirdre continued working on cases overdue, while Alfendi switched to work on the case his sister'd asked him to look at.

"What were tha' about?" Lucy asked upon their return to the room.

"Oh, I was just asking him to...to help me on a case," Deirdre answered.

"What case would that be?"

"Just one of the cases that I was working on, from when you were in the hospital."

"And why did you leave t' room?"

"I just...didn't want to bother you, so..."

Lucy looked as though she had another question, but after a moment said, "Alright."

The three continued working on the cases, until Alfendi called Deirdre to his desk. They discussed something quietly, before Lucy, annoyed with their secrecy, asked, "Are ya plannin' to tell me what you're talkin' about?"

They were silent.

"We can...we just...wanted to be certain of it...before we tell you," Deirdre answered slowly.

"Tell me...what?" she asked, her annoyance beginning to dissipate.

"About...the case. It's...a case."

"Well, an unofficial case." Alfendi cut in.

"What do ya mean?" Lucy asked slowly.

"It's...from a month and a half ago. When you were attacked," Alfendi answered. "That case."

"And...what did ya want ta be certain about?" she asked, unsure of if she wanted to hear the answer.

The siblings glanced at each other. "Just...the prime suspect. We're not sure if it's him...so...," Deirdre trailed off.

There was silence.

Lucy hesitated, before she asked, "Who do you think did it?"

The two glanced at each other again.

"We think it's..."

"Tristan."

Lucy stared at them in shock, eyes wide.

"What? B-but how? Why would 'e...?"

"We don't know...we're just looking through the evidence. Deirdre told me about the nightmares and what you said happened yesterday."

"So...'en is he...has 'e been lying to me...this entire time?" she asked slowly, looking away as her eyes filled with tears.

Neither one of them knew what to do, what to say. Finally Alfendi went over to Lucy, sitting next to her and pulling her towards him, wrapping his arms around her as she began to cry.

She cried for a few minutes before pulling away from Alfendi, wiping away her tears, sniffling.

"Are you okay now?" he asked, concerned.

She nodded slightly. "Aye...I-I'm okay now."

"Luce...sorry, but...do you happen to have Tristan's phone number?" Deirdre asked. "We need to call him in...for an interrogation..."

"Aye...," she answered, before giving them the phone number.

"Should we...call him in now, Ally?" Deirdre asked hesitantly.

He glanced towards Lucy, staring at her hands in her lap. "Let's wait until tomorrow."

"Okay."

The siblings walked Lucy home, before asking if she wanted either of them to stay with her. She answered no, and the two left her alone.

Lucy went to her room, before picking up her mobile and dialing the same number she had the day before.

"Lucy?" he asked.

"Aye, it's me."

"Hey, what's up?"

"I just wanted to talk."

"Alright, what about?"

She began to talk to him about shared memories -memorable events in their relationship. First date, first kiss, etc. She wanted to see if he showed any guilt for lying to her, unlike during those events.

To her distress, his voice sounded just as reminiscent as she managed to make hers sound. As if he wasn't lying to her.

But it made sense if he was lying to her. She knew her memories weren't false, that she'd been dating Tristan until the day she last remembers from four years past, and evidence of him had been at the scene, which could only mean they'd broken up and that's when she'd started dating Ryan.

"Lucy? Are you listening?"

"Oh! Sorry...I guess I spaced out a bit...what did ya say?"

"I said," he began, pausing before he continued, "I love you."

The words made her eyes well with tears.

"You...love me?" she asked, hoping she'd heard wrong. He couldn't. He was lying to her. He had to be. There wasn't any other explanation.

But his tone...it sounded genuine. She didn't think he could sound so genuine after lying to her. Not if he felt guilty about it.

"Yes. I love you, Lucy."

And then it clicked.

The words caused part of her memory to return -she'd heard those words before, from him. Years ago. She'd heard them, she was certain.

Then she remembered her dream from a few nights back.

_"You didn't love me!"_ she'd screamed.

Was this a trick? Was he trying to get into her head?

Had he really attacked her?

"I-I...I don't know what to say...," she finally responded.

"Are you happy?" he asked.

"I...I don't know...I mean, I think..." She couldn't explain her emotions, couldn't express them. Not that she wanted to tell him of their suspicion of him, and how much the words hurt her because of the incident.

Her emotions were mixed up, she was happy, sad, shocked, frightened, and angry all at once, but she couldn't express it.

"What do you mean, 'you think you're happy'?" His tone had a slight edge to it.

"I jus'...all my emotions are mixed up...I don't know what I am right now."

He was silent.

"Alright," he finally said.

Glancing at the time, Lucy noticed, "Oh, I 'ave to sleep now. But I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure. Goodnight, my dear." His tone had softened, gentle now, and she replied.

"Goodnight." Then the two hung up.

She couldn't sleep, knowing he had to be lying to her. It wasn't possible. But at the same time...he hadn't sounded guilty, he'd sounded genuine, like nothing had happened in the time she'd lost.

The unstable mix of emotions caused her eyes to well with tears, horrified that he would lie to her. She picked up her phone, scrolling through her contacts before pressing the Call button.

"Luce? What's wrong?"

"I-I...h-he...," she barely managed before she couldn't speak any longer.

"I'll be right there." She heard a _click_ before she pressed the red End Call button on her phone, letting the phone slip to the floor as she buried her head in her hands, crying.

There was a knock at the door, before Lucy heard it unlocking.

"Luce?" Footsteps headed towards her closed bedroom door, a familiar voice continuing to call her name.

The door opened, and Deirdre stepped in, immediately sitting beside her.

"Lucy, I'm sorry..." She pulled Lucy into a hug, the older girl continuing to cry.

"What happened?"

She didn't answer for a few minutes, before she managed to get her tears under control. "'E lied to me...'e said he loved me...but he couldn't have...an' he didn't sound guilty..."

Then she began crying again. Deirdre responded, "I mean...it doesn't make any sense if he was really genuine about it all...if he wasn't lying. And the evidence does still point to him. I really don't know..."

Her words didn't help to comfort Lucy at all, only making her cry harder.

Upon the realization, Deirdre apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

She cried for a few more minutes, before managing to wipe away her tears, pulling away from Deirdre. "I-it's okay...I don't know what I were expecting..."

Lucy and Deirdre talked for a few more minutes, discussing what he'd said over the phone, before Lucy finally went to sleep, falling asleep in the midst of conversation. Deirdre let her sleep, making a bed on her couch with a few blankets and a pillow.

* * *

_XD way too obsessed~_

_Fourth chapter of the week, second of the day, and I'm 500 words into the next. Wow._

_But this is the good stuff, which is part of why it's getting written so quickly. The ideas are already flowing, why break the flow? XD_

_Only thing is because I'm posting so much, I'm not spending time at all editing, meaning that there might be little mistakes I miss and will have to update later. So...idk, that's making me a little hesitant to post -the fact that I might miss something major even if it's a small phrase or whatnot, and will be forced to fix it, consecutively giving away a bit more because of the importance of that little mistake. I really hope that's not happening...that's why I started the next chapter before posting this one._

_~girlycathy~_


	17. Confrontation

16: Confrontation

* * *

_Previously:_

_"I mean...it doesn't make any sense if he was really genuine about it all...if he wasn't lying. And the evidence does still point to him. I really don't know..."_

_Her words didn't help to comfort Lucy at all, only making her cry harder. _

_Upon the realization, Deirdre apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."_

_She cried for a few more minutes, before managing to wipe away her tears, pulling away from Deirdre. "I-it's okay...I don't know what I were expecting..."_

_Lucy and Deirdre talked for a few more minutes, discussing what he'd said over the phone, before Lucy finally went to sleep, falling asleep in the midst of conversation. Deirdre let her sleep, making a bed on her couch with a few blankets and a pillow._

* * *

The next morning, Lucy woke at a normal time.

"Morning, Lucy," Deirdre greeted as Lucy entered the kitchen. "Sleep well?"

"Aye, finally."

"Good," she answered, sending a smile towards Lucy. The girls ate breakfast before walking to the Mystery Room. They entered, and Deirdre almost immediately asked Alfendi, "Should we call him in now?"

"Yes."

Alfendi called, directly saying he needed to come in as soon as possible.

Tristan arrived an hour and a half later, and Alfendi immediately showed him to the interrogation room, before he could see Lucy. Deirdre, as usual, wasn't allowed to interrogate, so she stayed behind in the Mystery Room, working on other cases. Lucy entered the interrogation room after Alfendi had explained the case to him, ending with "...but I'm sure you know all about it."

When Lucy entered the room, Tristan immediately started talking. "Lucy, why am I here? I don't know what he's talking—"

"Just stop," she told him, not wanting to hear his lies.

"We have enough evidence to convict you already. All we're missing is a motive, that's the only reason for this interrogation," Alfendi started.

"Why did you attack me?" she asked.

"I didn't—"

"Don't lie to us. It's only going to make things worse for you in the end," Alfendi warned.

Tristan looked to Lucy, before finding she was against him in this situation. Realizing he wasn't going to escape this confrontation, he began laughing.

Alfendi switched personalities instantly, snapping, "What are you laughing about? Do you think this is a joke?" as Lucy stared in shock at the unrecognizable man before her.

"I do. This entire ordeal is a joke. Everything related to this case is a joke."

"What...?"

"If you really want to know, I did it because I enjoyed it. Nothing else."

"You...what?" Lucy asked, unable to process what he was saying.

"I attacked you because it would be fun. Getting you to go out with me in the first place was for my father, not that it matters anymore. But back then, it did. I got you to go out with me, distract you from that stupid case file for years, until I slipped. But coming back, seeing you again? That was just pure joy."

"So...everything ya ever said t' me...were a lie?" she asked, eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him in shock.

"Not all of it, my dear," he began, his tone somewhat reassuring. She felt relieved, her expression hopeful. He smirked down at her, the chance too irresistible. "This wasn't."

The words were crushing, and she let out a choked sound. Tears spilled from her eyes as she ran out of the room, her sobs echoing in the hall until they heard her fall.

"Lucy!" Alfendi called, before turning back to the criminal in front of him. "You're a monster," he spat, before telling the guards to handcuff him.

Alfendi ran out of the room to see Lucy collapsed on the floor, Deirdre kneeling beside her. "She's unconscious, but I doubt it's from falling. I just don't know why," Deirdre began. "Help me bring her back to the Mystery Room."

The two carried the unconscious girl back, placing her carefully on the couch. She stirred, but didn't wake.

"I just don't know why she's unconscious..."

"Well, she was running back, and it's because of her dizziness that she fell," Alfendi answered, Placid again.

"Yeah, I get that part...but she shouldn't have fallen unconscious. It's not normal."

"Yeah..."

"But what else could've happened for her to go unconscious?"

"I'm not sure."

Not knowing what else to do, they returned to working on cases, checking Lucy's state every few minutes.

After half an hour, she woke.

She sat up slowly, the slight noise of the couch cushions alerting the Layton's to her consciousness.

"Lucy, how are you feeling?" Her skin was pale, and she was barely swaying just sitting on the couch.

"I-I'm...," she began, a hand to her forehead, "I'm fine. What happened?"

"You were running out of the interrogation room when you tripped and fell, and you've been unconscious till now. What happened in the interrogation room?"

The memory instantly returned to her, and she broke down in tears. "'E...he said tha' everything he'd said t' me...were lies...an' he'd attacked me for fun...," she explained between sobs, her voice shaking as she cried. "He were tricking me...this entire time..."

Deirdre immediately moved to sit beside her, wrapping her arms around the heartbroken girl.

"I'm sorry, Luce..."

She continued crying for several minutes before managing to slow her tears, and Deirdre released her.

"Are you okay?"

Lucy didn't answer for a few moments, before slowly shaking her head, staring down at her lap. "No...but I'll manage."

"Okay. We still can't figure out why you fell unconscious though...," Deirdre began, not sure where she was going. "Is anything different, I guess?" she asked uncertainly.

"I...I remember everything."

"What?" the siblings immediately asked. They'd forgotten about her memory loss, having accepted that it would be permanent by now.

"Ever'thing. From the past four years. An'...I remember breaking up with Tristan..."

"What was he talking about, when he said he 'slipped'?"

"I think 'e meant...there were an incident before we broke up."

"What happened?" Deirdre asked.

Lucy let out a breath. "It were three years ago, when I were nineteen. We 'ad gone out for lunch at some café, an' we were waiting in line when some boy ran into me. 'E apologized, and I said it were fine, but Tristan got really mad for some reason, yelling at 'im and all. I tried to calm 'im down, when he turned to me and...," she paused, inhaling before continuing, "and 'e hit me. Across t' face."

"What?" Alfendi immediately switched personalities, standing up. Lucy glanced up at him, seeing the anger in his expression. "How could he do that to you?"

He began walking towards the door, before Lucy asked, "Where're ya going?"

"To make sure he gets the sentence he deserves." Then the door slammed.

"Prof!" Lucy looked horrified. Deirdre saw the expression, immediately acting.

"Ally!" Deirdre shouted, rushing to the door, letting it slam behind her echoing footsteps.

The siblings returned, Deirdre dragging Alfendi by the arm. "What the hell, Ally?!"

"What?!"

"You can't just do that!"

"Why not?!"

"You have to at least ask Lucy! She's the one who told you about it, and it happened to her! If she doesn't want to tell them, you can't just go do it yourself!"

He stopped, switching personalities again. "I-I'm sorry, Lucy. He got...a bit carried away," he explained.

"It's okay, Prof."

There was an awkward silence, the three still where they were.

"I should deliver these files to the Commissioner," Alfendi stated. He moved to the desk, collecting all the files they'd finished over the past few days before leaving the room.

Lucy's phone buzzed. She glanced at it, seeing a message, and her expression immediately changed to shock.

"What?" Deirdre asked.

"Um...Ryan jus' texted me...said to meet 'im tomorrow night. So we can talk."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Luce?"

"Aye. I just...," she took a breath, releasing it with her next words, "need ta figure things out."

"Okay...," Deirdre replied reluctantly, watching as Lucy moved about the room, collecting her things for the night.

"I already said yes anyways, I can't really cancel," she continued, sending Deirdre a nervous smile to match the shaky laugh.

"I don't know...you might wanna wait a day or so to recover from everything today. You don't look very good."

"I'm fine...I'll be fine," she repeated, yet it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than Deirdre. Her pale skin and shaky demeanor betrayed her though, her body swaying slightly as she leaned on walls and the desk, as if she didn't trust herself to stand alone.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, he should understand if you can't meet him tomorrow night. It's really soon, after all that happened today." She stood up, noticing the girl's wavering stance, and walked towards her, in case Lucy slipped.

"But it 'appened two days ago. Really I should've figured it out 'en. I just...don't know what's going t' happen-"

"Lucy, you didn't know what was going on when it happened back then. There was no way you could've talked it out without the memories you have now."

"But...," she began to protest, before realizing she had nothing to say.

"Lucy, just stop. Don't go see him tomorrow night, just take a day to rest. Think about what you're saying: you want to go talk to your actual boyfriend after the last time he saw you, you were cheating on him, and not a day after finding out your ex was a liar. It's not a very sound plan."

"I'm fine, Deirdre."

"You're really not. You're shaking, you've hardly slept the past few days along with you're already constantly exhausted, and you can't even stand up straight!"

"I-I jus'...need a bit o' sleep. I'll be fine int' morning," she responded, leaning her back against the wall for support as she felt even more dizzy.

"Luce, you're going to collapse any minute at this rate. Just rest for the evening, and for all of tomorrow, and figure out everything the day after."

"I-I'm fine," she argued, beginning to walk to her desk all too quickly, her knees buckling after a few determined steps. She fell onto the carpet, hands burning from the carpet, and Deirdre helped her up again. "You're not fine," she stated.

This time, Lucy said nothing.

Deirdre grabbed the small First-Aid kit, and began wiping off Lucy's hands, the skin red and hot.

The door swung open, and Alfendi entered, closing it behind himself.

"What happened?" he asked, seeing his sister tending to Lucy's hands.

"She slipped and fell," Deirdre answered easily. "While trying to convince me she was fine. Which you're not," she told Lucy.

There was silence as Alfendi sat down at his desk, and Deirdre finished cleaning Lucy's hands. Then she spoke.

"Luce, I don't think you should meet him tomorrow night."

"I'll be fine, we're just going ta talk. Nowt bad's going to 'appen. Stop worrying," she replied.

"Still...what if it goes downhill? You're nowhere near a hundred percent yet, you've hardly slept in the past few nights, you're still pale and shaky, and you just slipped from dizziness."

"I'll be fine t'morrow morning, I just need a good night's sleep tonight," Lucy insisted.

"But...what about your dizziness? Exhaustion? What if something bad happens?"

"Nowt bad'll 'appen, Deirdre."

"What are you planning for tomorrow night?" Alfendi asked.

"She's planning to meet her actual boyfriend, who, just a few days ago, caught her making out with Tristan," Deirdre answered.

"Lucy," Alfendi began, his tone almost disapproving.

"I'm fine, Prof. I'll be fine."

"That's what you said before you were attacked," he pointed out.

"But...," she started hopelessly, "I mean...this time's different... We're jus' going to talk about what 'appened. He's not going to 'urt me."

"Isn't that what you thought about Tristan?" Deirdre asked before seeing the hurt in Lucy's eyes. "I'm sorry to bring it up, but honestly."

"I-I..."

"We just don't want you to get hurt again, Lucy," Alfendi explained.

She was silent for a few moments, before finally agreeing. "Alright. I'll call 'im to postpone it."

"Thank you, Lucy."

She stepped outside, into the hall, to call him.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Lucy."

"What's up? You're still coming over tomorrow night, right?" Ryan asked.

"I...actually, I wanted to ask...could we do it t' night after? I just...'ad a lot today and wanna rest tomorrow."

"No, why don't you just rest until you come over?"

"Because I 'aven't gotten a day off in the past few days to rest. I'll come over the night after."

"What about two days ago?" he asked bitterly.

"Tha'...no, I'm not coming over t'morrow."

"Then I can meet you at your flat."

"No! We'll just meet t' day after."

"You'll have all day to rest, Lucy."

"No, jus'...no. I'm not going t' see you tomorrow at all, it'll be the day after."

"Alright, fine." But the tone in his voice made Lucy uncertain.

"I'll see ya in two days." Then she hung up.

She leaned against the wall for a moment, feeling dizzy, before she made her way back inside.

"How'd it go?" Deirdre asked.

"...not that well...but I think he agreed in t' end."

"What does 'not that well' mean?"

"We argued for a bit..."

"Oh. But you said he agreed?"

"Aye...I think."

"You think?"

"I mean, 'e said 'e was going to see me in a couple days...but he didn't sound like 'e meant it..."

"Oh...well let's just hope he doesn't show up on your doorstep tomorrow night," Deirdre responded, smiling.

Lucy cracked a smile at that. "Aye. I think I'm going t' head home now."

"Alright. Want us to walk you home?" Alfendi asked.

"If ya want," she answered, picking up her bag and slipping the strap onto her shoulder. They joined her in walking back to her flat, before the siblings went back to Alfendi's flat.

* * *

_Ahhh, another chapter! I'm just going through this all. Should really do something else...nahhh. I'm onto starting the next chapter. This is where it gets to stuff I've already begun beforehand, so it shouldn't take long. Simply editing and touching up, really. But alas, it will still take at least an hour or two, just as the others did._

_~girlycathy~_


	18. Abuse

_Heyyy I actually went and did stuff yesterday aside from writing! In case you're wondering why this wasn't up yesterday. I just started it last night and fell asleep and...here we are!_

_~girlycathy~_

* * *

17: Abuse

* * *

_Previously:_

_"I mean, 'e said 'e was going to see me in a couple days...but he didn't sound like 'e meant it..."_

_"Oh...well let's just hope he doesn't show up on your doorstep tomorrow night," Deirdre responded, smiling._

_Lucy cracked a smile at that. "Aye. I think I'm going t' head home now."_

_"Alright. Want us to walk you home?" Alfendi asked._

_"If ya want," she answered, picking up her bag and slipping the strap onto her shoulder. They joined her in walking back to her flat, before the siblings went back to Alfendi's flat._

* * *

The next morning, she called Alfendi and Deirdre to let them know she'd be staying at her flat.

She slept in late, and spent practically the entire day on her laptop or mindlessly watching television, not worrying about anything.

The only major event of the day was that evening, when she heard knocking on her door.

_Who could tha' be?_ she wondered, placing her laptop onto the sofa as she walked to the door.

She opened the door, the sight shocking her.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, nearly shouting.

"I came to talk to you."

"I told you not to come!"

"If you want me to listen to you, how about you don't go around kissing other guys?!" he snapped.

"I 'ad amnesia! I didn't remember who you were till I saw you!" she argued.

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not!" she shouted, her eyes filling with tears as her voice cracked, and she could feel the fatigue overcoming her, threatening to shut her shaking body down. "I swear, I'm not lying! I didn't remember you until I saw you!"

"No!" he yelled, slapping her across the face with enough force to throw her to the ground, tears falling down her bruised face. It couldn't end this way, not again. "Don't lie to me, Lucy!"

"I-I'm not!—"

His only response was a hard kick to her abdomen, leaving her gasping for breath.

"W-wait—" She held the door open by the wood, his hand on the doorknob to shut it. "I-I promise, I'm not lying," she begged, tears spilling from her eyes as she looked up at him, though his expression showed no mercy as he slammed the door shut, smashing her hand, and he didn't look back once as she screamed.

Blood stained everything, the crimson liquid pouring from her fingers as she released them and sank to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably while pain shot through her shaking fingers and hand, all the way up to her elbow, draining her energy faster than any shouting ever could.

She tried to reach for her buzzing phone, set on a small table by the door. It was close enough to the edge it was about to vibrate off, but then it stopped, balanced precariously on the edge, just out of Lucy's reach. She placed her hand on the ground to reach for the device when searing pain burned her hand and she slipped to the floor, hitting her chin straight onto the tile. A painful jolt shot through her jaw and teeth at the collision, and she knew there was already a major bruise.

She closed her eyes, giving up at trying to get help, tears flowing down her face and onto the floor.

A soft buzzing and a distant thud sounded as she lost consciousness, the phone falling to the floor centimeters from her outstretched fingers.

Deirdre was pacing the Mystery Room, saying, "She always answers the phone, I'm going over there."

"She probably just missed it."

"Ally, I've called ten times over the past hour, there's no way she missed every single call, and she said all she's doing is staying at her house. I'm going over there," she repeated, shoving her phone in her pocket and turning to grab her raincoat.

"Why do you even need to see her?"

"Because...," she began, tapping her nails against the device in her hands, "I'm just going to check on her. She hasn't answered any of my calls."

"I told you, she probably left her phone in another room. Don't worry about it," he repeated, not looking up from his work.

"But remember what she said. She said her boyfriend didn't sound like he meant it when he said he'd just meet her tomorrow. I just wanna make sure she's okay."

"I know what she said, but she can handle herself, and she also said they were just going to talk. You're overreacting."

"Whatever." She quickly walked out the door, heading over to Lucy's. She was worried, not knowing what might've happened, and she quickly slipped on her jacket and put up her hood as she ran through the rain.

"Lucy!" Deirdre screamed, banging on the door. She'd seen the blood on the ground and on the door, and needed the door open _now_.

She unlocked the door, only to find an obstacle blocking it. She glanced inside and saw Lucy's body across the entryway. Deirdre slipped through the opening, staring at the sight in front of her. Lucy was laying with her bloody arm twisted under her torso unnaturally, her other arm outstretched to the phone lying on the floor, centimeters away from her fingertips.

The scene made her think of that night, a month and a half prior: Lucy's unconscious body covered in blood, her phone containing a crucial recording. It was exactly the same here. She was clearly reaching for her phone, trying to call for help but couldn't.

Just like that night.

"Oh my god...Lucy..." She felt for a pulse, finding a very faint one. She ran to the bathroom, yanking the cupboards open and grabbing towels and washcloths. First, she had to clear up enough blood to see the damage done.

She ran back, dropping everything on the floor to carefully roll Lucy onto her back before dabbing blood from her hand, somewhat knowing where the bloody injury was. "Lucy, be okay, please be okay...," she repeated to herself as her eyes began to fill with tears and her voice cracked. "Please, Lucy..."

Finally clearing some of the blood, she immediately knew she had to call an ambulance. Lucy's fingers were bent in ways they shouldn't be, broken and mangled, shards of bone showing through the drying blood at the dark maroon lines crossed her fingers, clearly where the door smashed them.

"I need an ambulance here, there's a girl with broken fingers, blood everywhere, it's been something over an hour and she's unconscious," Deirdre rambled into the phone before they could ask what happened. She quickly gave the address and hung up, pacing the small room, not knowing what else to do.

The nurses gave her anesthesia when she arrived so she wouldn't wake while they stitched up her hand before setting it and bandaging it.

"How did this happen, Luce? I figure Ryan went over there after you told him not to?"

"A-aye...and 'e were really mad, saying if I wanted him to listen t' me, I shouldn't 'ave cheated on him."

"And then you told him you had amnesia, right?"

"Aye...but 'e didn't believe me. He called me a liar...a-an' then 'e slapped me..." Her voice trailed off, her unbandaged fingertips drawn to the dark bruise on her right cheek. "Then he k-kicked me, and when I h-held the door open to t-try to explain, 'e slammed it on my 'and..." She looked at the white bandages covering her fingers, a cast going halfway up her arm to keep the broken bones still while they healed.

"Ugh! Why do boys have to be so _stupid_?!"

She paced around the room for a minute, thinking, before asking, "But you're going to report this, right?"

Lucy immediately tensed up at the thought. "N-no, I weren't going to."

"But he can't get away with this! He hit you and broke four of your fingers in a door!"

"It's not changing anything if I report it or not."

"What are you talking about, of course it will!"

"No, it won't."

"Why don't you think it'll change anything?"

"I-it just won't."

"But why do you think that?"

"It's nowt..."

Deirdre paused for a moment, sitting next to Lucy again. "It really isn't. Tell me what happened. I promise, I won't tell a soul."

Lucy sighed, mentally debating, before answering, "Last time...wit' Tristan...I broke up with 'im because he hit me. When my friends found out, they made me report it, sayin' it were for t' best. We went to court, but in the end...nowt happened to either of us, except that we 'ad to remember the experience for three more hours. I-I jus' wanted to forget about it."

"Oh my god..." Deirdre paused for a moment, before asking, "Are you planning to tell Ally what happened?"

She shook her head. "No, 'e'll only worry 'bout me, an' I'd prefer to forget it all 'appened at all."

"But you should at least let him know what happened."

Lucy shook her head. "'E's going to report it and I don't want tha'."

It was silent for a few moments before Deirdre spoke up again. "You know, I've been to court before too."

"Really?"

"Mhm. It wasn't fun, I get where you're coming from on that. Except that it wasn't for something like having a boyfriend hit me...I'd ended up on a crime scene, and I was looking at the evidence, trying to figure it all out. My prints had ended up a lot of places then, and they thought I was the criminal."

"Oh...but why did you want to go to a crime scene?"

"Well, Ally used to be stuck taking care of me a lot, since he is ten years older than me, and Flora'd left the house already, so it was just us and Dad, who wasn't around a whole lot. So he'd gotten some job or something where he worked on crime scenes, and if no one else was around he'd have to take me, I mean, he couldn't just leave a seven-year old at home alone. So I would get to see crime scenes, although Dad wasn't very happy about that, it was a lot of fun for me, getting to look at all the evidence and stuff. Only thing is Ally never told me there were rules about it, for what I knew, anyone was allowed to look at them, except that he just didn't let me out of his sight. So when I was eleven or so, I was walking home from school and saw a crime scene, and wanted to look at it. Dad was so mad that I'd ended up in court because of it, and of course he had to take time off work because of it all, but of course he never said anything about it. Just scolded me is all, nothing much. After keeping me from being arrested, of course," she finished, smirking at the memory. "And then the next year I moved to California, and got a job of my own, so that never happened again. And I'm sure if it did, Ally would've found it hilarious."

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Lucy called.

A nurse with blonde hair came in, and said, "The doctor wanted me to ask you some questions about the injuries."

"Like what?"

The nurse closed the door and walked in, before starting to ask questions on her health: basic questions about how the injuries were, if they were hurting at the moment or not, and on how she felt, if she was at all light-headed or dizzy or nauseous. Lucy replied honestly, saying the only thing was that she was dizzy and she couldn't see in dark lighting, but was aside from the other injuries, okay, noting that the dizziness and partial vision weren't effects of that incident.

Then she asked what happened to cause all the injuries.

Lucy looked helplessly towards Deirdre, who quickly answered, "Well her hand, she had an incident with a door, accidentally closed it on her fingers. And then the bruises on her face, she sort of tripped and fell, she's a bit of a klutz if you didn't know."

It was clear the nurse didn't believe the story, as Deirdre couldn't even keep a straight face and Lucy was looking down, biting her lip and trying not to laugh, but she asked no further questions, only saying that was all and leaving the room. Once the door was closed, the two burst out in laughter.

"Ta, Deirdre."

"No problem," she replied. "The nurse didn't believe it anyways, but how was she going to. It's definitely not one of my best made-up stories, but it's all I could come up with at the moment."

"Aye? And what are some of the other made-up stories?"

"Well, lets see...I mean, a lot of people think I'm a doctor and convinced I've them so, even though I never went to college...Technically I have no degrees, I'm not qualified for anything, but even Ally doesn't know that," she laughed. "He thinks I went to medical school and all, but I didn't, so don't tell him."

"Then 'ow did you know what t' do when I were injured and all?"

"The internet knows everything," she smirked. "Along with a bit of common sense. It's not like I haven't had a bit of medical interest."

Lucy was about to respond when there was another tap on the door. "Come in."

The same blonde nurse returned, opening the door. "The doctor said all your injuries have checked out, you're free to leave. He said he noticed a cut on the back of your head that you might want to have looked at, but it otherwise seems fine."

"Okay. Ta," Lucy called to the woman just before the door closed.

As they were walking out, Deirdre asked, "So what are we going to tell Ally about your broken fingers and such?"

She was silent for a moment, before replying softly, "I 'adn't thought about that yet..."

"I mean if you don't want to tell him the truth, I can say the same thing I told the nurse, but I really don't think he'll believe that. At least not all of it."

"Aye...but I don't want 'im to know about Ryan coming over. 'E'll report it an'...I don't want tha'."

"Well...I guess we'll have to think of something." They walked in silence back to Lucy's flat. As they entered, Deirdre's phone buzzed.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?"

"Ohhh, right, forgot to tell you, I'm staying at Luce's tonight."

"And why didn't you pick up any of my calls over the past _hour_?"

"Oh shut up, you're overreacting."

"You were worried about the exact same thing just a few hours ago!"

"Yeah, and?"

He let out an exasperated breath. "And could you at least next time tell me if you're not coming back?"

"Ugh, fine. If you insist, Ally." She ended the call, before telling Lucy, "That was Ally, worried about where I was. Told me to answer his calls." She slipped the phone back into her pocket before saying, "So what are we going to tell him about your hand?"

* * *

_I think my writer's high is basically over now, so I won't be posting like crazy as I have been these past few days. I will be trying to continue my writing during the school week, but given I will have less time, I won't be as active on my account. I will hope another chapter will be up in the next week, but I really don't know how inspired I'll be this week, so I am making no promises._

_~girlycathy~_


	19. Apologies

18: Apologies

* * *

_Previously:_

_She ended the call, before telling Lucy, "That was Ally, worried about where I was. Told me to answer his calls." She slipped the phone back into her pocket before saying, "So what are we going to tell him about your hand?"_

* * *

The next morning, Deirdre helped Lucy cover the bruises with makeup, and they decided she would explain the cast.

"What happened to your hand?" Alfendi asked as they entered the door, immediately noticing the white cast on her arm.

"She shut a door on it," Deirdre answered. "When you said I was 'overreacting'," she emphasized, looking over to see his expression.

"And broke it?" he asked, ignoring her comment.

"Yeah," she answered again as Lucy quietly walked to the Reconstruction Machine. Normally she would object to their talking about her as if she weren't there, but this time she was glad to let Deirdre answer any questions about the night before.

"Did she slam the door?" he pressed, disbelieving of their story.

"Yeah, now will you stop with the questions so I can actually work?" she asked irritably.

"Fine."

They worked individually on cases throughout the day, and were brought a few more that afternoon. The Laytons insisted Lucy sleep when they caught her falling asleep, and each time she went straight back to working upon waking up.

Later that afternoon, Alfendi asked, "When do you have to leave?"

Lucy glanced over at him. "What are you talking about?" she asked, not knowing what he was referring to.

"Weren't you meeting your boyfriend tonight?"

"Oh...right. Aye," she answered quickly, trying to cover her mistake.

"What? Are you not going?"

"No, I'm going...," she began, before realizing she hadn't quite answered his question. "I-I'm just...not lookin' forward to it, tha's all." She nervously looked away, biting her fingernail.

"Does this have to do with yesterday?" he asked before he could stop himself. The suspicions from that morning had been in his mind all day, and Lucy's once-again off behavior was only increasing the suspicion.

Immediately she looked back at him in surprise. "What?"

Realizing now he had to explain himself, he answered, "You were acting different this morning, when you came in and I asked about the cast, and you're acting just the same now."

She looked away again.

"Just leave it alone, Ally," Deirdre cut in, turning to look at him. "What does it matter?"

"And what do you know about it?" he asked.

"Nothing," she answered, glancing away.

The three were silent.

"Lucy, what happened last night?" Alfendi asked again, trying to control his frustration.

"N-nowt..."

"Then how did you break your hand?"

"I-I jus'...shut a door on it...," she replied hesitantly, not looking at him, her eyes welling with tears at the memory as she bit her lip, trying not to cry.

He switched personalities, frustrated with the lack of answers and their lies. "Don't lie to me!"

A sob escaped Lucy's lips, tears beginning to run down her face from her tightly closed eyes. Alfendi recoiled a pace in shock, staring at the girl with wide eyes, not knowing what had just happened.

Lucy took a dragging, shaky breath as she rushed out the door, letting it close behind her with a _bang_.

Deirdre immediately stood, turning on her brother. "What the _hell_, Ally?!" she yelled, before following Lucy, the door slamming and the thin blinds rattling from the impact.

"Luce!" Deirdre called, rushing down the hallway. "Lucy!"

Finally finding her outside, leaning against the wall, Deirdre went over to her. "Luce! What happened, are you okay?"

Lucy didn't answer, crying, and Deirdre wrapped her arms around the other girl.

"Lucy, what happened?" she asked again.

Lucy sniffled and pulled away from Deirdre, wiping away tears with her unbandaged hand. "I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize. Why are you crying?"

"Wha' t' Prof said...th-tha's what Ryan said t' me...last night..."

Deirdre's eyes widened as she stared at the girl in front of her. "I...I'm sorry..."

The two girls were silent aside from Lucy sniffling.

"What do you want to do now?"

She was quiet for a moment. "I...I don't know..."

She looked up at Deirdre, hoping the teen would have an idea as to what to do.

"The makeup's coming off," Deirdre noted. "Do you want to just go back to your apartment or-"

The door swung open, and the two girls looked over to see Alfendi rushing out the door, having returned to his calmer personality.

"Lucy! Are you alright?" he asked upon seeing her tearstreaked face.

"I-I..."

Then he noticed the dark bruises where the tears had removed some of the makeup. "Your face is bruised, what happened?"

She touched her fingertips to her cheek, becoming lost in the horrible memory once again, before turning away. Deirdre, standing between the two, shot at him, "It's none of your business."

"Why won't either of you tell me?" he asked angrily, hair bright crimson now.

"She doesn't-"

"It...it's fine, Deirdre," Lucy cut in softly.

"What happened to your face, Lucy?" he asked gently, trying to suppress his frustration for her sake.

She let out a breath before beginning, head down. "Last night...Ryan came over t' see me. 'E wanted ta talk to me, an' we argued a bit. 'E hit me, and then slammed t' door on my hand..."

Alfendi's eyes widened. "What? Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded.

"I-I just...didn't want ya to worry about me..."

"But you need to report this, or tell someone-"

"No, ya can't tell anyone," she pleaded, looking up at him with red eyes, bruises on her face showing through tearstreaks and smeared makeup. "Please, don't tell anyone."

He was silent for a moment, not knowing what to say, until her eyes began to well with tears and a small sob escaped her quivering lip, taking his silence as rejection to her plea. His personalities fought for control, each wanting to respond, before his Placid personality took over.

"Alright, I won't," he finally reassured, unable to withstand seeing his beloved assistant cry anymore.

The relief showed in her expression immediately, and she wiped her eyes, only smearing the makeup further and exposing more of the dark purple-blue skin. "T-ta, Prof. I'm sorry I didn't tell ya before..."

"It's okay, Lucy."

The three were silent for a moment none of them knowing what to say, until Deirdre suggested, "Why don't I help you clean off all that makeup?"

"Aye..." The two girls went back into Scotland Yard, headed towards the bathrooms, and Alfendi returned to the Mystery Room, continuing cases.

When Lucy reentered the Mystery Room, Alfendi realized how bad their fight must have been. The bruise she was hiding covered almost her entire cheek.

Lucy and Deirdre went straight to work upon entering, although after a few minutes, Deirdre went over to Alfendi's desk.

"Can I talk to you outside?" she asked, glancing up to make sure Lucy didn't hear.

"About what?"

"What happened earlier. Just come, okay?"

Before she gave him a chance to answer or object, Deirdre told Lucy, "We're going to be right back."

She was surprised, but answered, "Okay."

Deirdre pulled her brother out of the room by his arm quickly, before he could protest.

Outside, she closed the door to the Mystery Room, before continuing outside of Scotland Yard.

"You better not tell a _soul_ about what happened to Lucy, Ally," she warned before the glass door could even close behind them.

Immediately he switched personalities, answering, "Why not? Her fingers are broken and there's a bruise covering half her face because of him!"

"You think I don't know that? I took her to the hospital after finding her unconscious on the floor of her apartment! But you can't tell anyone because she asked you not to and I don't care how much you think it will help, but it won't. She asked me not to tell, she asked you not to tell, and you said you wouldn't, so _don't_."

"My _other side_ said-"

"I don't fricking care who said it, you can't tell _anyone_!"

"What even makes you think it won't help?"

"Because even if you get him sentenced, you're hurting Lucy and your entire relationship with her! So don't you fricking _dare_ tell _anyone_!" she threatened again.

"Alright, I won't," he answered, his expression having changed to one of concern.

They entered the Mystery Room again, Alfendi having switched back to his calmer personality again.

"What were tha' about?" Lucy asked.

"Nothing," Deirdre answered.

The girls returned to work, the room going quiet, but Alfendi couldn't focus on the case file in front of him, his thoughts always going back to Lucy and his conversation with Deirdre.

He didn't want to hurt Lucy in any way, but he couldn't stand the thought of someone hurting her. And clearly Deirdre wasn't about to let her be hurt again either.

_Speaking of, why was Deirdre so worried over Lucy's safety?_ he wondered. _She was insistent on going to her house for what seemed like no reason, and was adamant that he not tell anyone about what happened for Lucy's sake. _

_Maybe it has something to do with her mysterious past?_

"Done!" Lucy called out, flipping a case file closed and tossing it into a pile of other cases they'd finished before checking the clock to see what time it was.

"I'm going ta 'ead home now."

"I can walk you out," Alfendi offered, still wary of her walking out alone because of the incident from a couple months ago.

"Okay, Deirdre, are ya coming with?"

"Um...I'm kind of in the middle of this...," she began, not looking up from the case file.

"That's okay, you know how to get back to the apartment, right?" Alfendi asked.

"Well, I mean, I can just finish this later and go with you guys," she cut in hastily, looking up from the file.

"It's fine, just finish the case and I'll meet you at the apartment later tonight," he replied insistently.

She was silent for a moment, not sure how to answer. Alfendi knew what was bothering her, and reassured her, "We'll be fine."

She didn't answer at first, mentally debating her answer, before saying, "Okay. I'll meet you at the apartment later tonight then."

"Alright. I'll see you there."

The duo walked out of the Mystery Room and out of Scotland Yard.

"Lucy, I wanted to ask you...," Alfendi began before quickly becoming aware of a figure approaching them in the darkness. As he turned to look at the figure, Lucy glanced away from him to see it.

Upon recognizing the man, she demanded, "What're you doing 'ere?"

"Lucy, I-I just wanted to apologize, I-I'm sorry, please forgive me-"

"No, not after what ya did las' night, Ryan," she spat.

Hearing the name, Alfendi immediately recognized it and remembered who he was and what Lucy'd told him, instantly switching personalities as his anger towards the other man mounted.

"Please, Lucy, I-I know I was out of line-"

"Out of line?" Alfendi shot impulsively. "_Out of line_? You hit her, you broke her fingers in the door, you left her _unconscious_, and you think you can just apologize and it'll be as if that never happened?"

Lucy stared at him, not having expected him to interrupt so suddenly. "Prof-"

"How can you even do that?" he continued. "What kind of monster are you to do that to her?"

"Prof!"

"And who the hell are you?" Ryan retorted. "Are you the _famous_ inspector? The _unstable_, _split-personality_, _crazy_ inspector Luce is forced to work with every single day? God, I don't know how she does it without wanting to _kill herself_ for it!"

"Ryan!"

"Well lucky for her, you almost did it for her," Alfendi sneered, before snatching the collar of the man in front of him, looking straight into his eyes. "Now before I am forced to drag you into that building and let you rot in prison, I suggest you leave while you still can, and never talk to me or Lucy ever again. Understand?"

The other man smirked. "Like I would listen to you."

Immediately Alfendi's anger doubled, and he dragged the man into the building without hesitation, ignoring Lucy's pleas and attempts to calm him or stop him.

Knowing anything she said would be ignored, Lucy ran straight to the Mystery Room, hoping Deirdre would still be there.

She was standing outside the door, locking it, when she noticed Lucy's panic. "Luce, what's wrong?"

"T' Prof, 'e just dragged Ryan in," Lucy explained, eyes filled with tears.

"Oh my god...where?"

Lucy led her to where Alfendi was talking to another officer, Ryan in handcuffs in front of them.

"Ally!" Deirdre called upon spotting them. "Ally!"

He looked over to see her, and as she caught up to him, she began talking. "How could you do this? I told you not to, you promised _both of us_ you wouldn't!"

"You weren't there, you wouldn't understand," he shot back easily.

"Prof, why are ya doing this?" Lucy asked, eyes filled with tears.

He looked over at her, seeing the pain in her eyes and not knowing what to say.

"What happened out there?" Deirdre asked.

"He, Ryan, 'e came up to me when we were walking out," Lucy began, not wanting to hear how Alfendi might explain it, "an' tried to apologize, said 'e were 'out of line'. T' Prof interrupted, and started yelling at 'im, and he yelled back, before t' Prof dragged him int' 'ere."

"Ally, what the hell? You said you wouldn't do this, you said it to both of us!"

"Why are ya doin' this?" Lucy repeated.

He was silent for a moment, before answering quietly, yet loud enough the two girls could hear, head down and crimson hair hanging limply, unable to look at them as he spoke. "I'm sorry...I just...I can't live with myself knowing you're not safe because I didn't do something about him."

The girls were silent, shocked. Deirdre's eyes welled with tears as she looked away and wrapped her arms around herself, letting Lucy break the silence between them. "Prof...I know you're tryin' ta help," she began, not knowing how to continue.

Then Deirdre ran off, crying.


	20. Reminiscient

_Trying to get back into my writing...it's a bit difficult. I don't know when the next bit'll be up...bit of Writer's Block coming on...ugh._

_Working though, so...you never know~_

_-girlycathy_

* * *

19: Reminiscent

* * *

_Previously:_

_"I'm sorry...I just...I can't live with myself knowing you're not safe because I didn't do something about him."_

_The girls were silent, shocked. Deirdre's eyes welled with tears as she looked away and wrapped her arms around herself, letting Lucy break the silence between them. "Prof...I know you're tryin' ta help," she began, not knowing how to continue._

_Then Deirdre ran off, crying._

* * *

"Deirdre!" Lucy began to follow her, when Alfendi stopped her.

"Just let her be alone," his crimson-haired side told her. "She always wanted to be alone when she was like this."

Lucy was hesitant to simply ignore it, but didn't run after her.

"Why won't you tell someone what happened, Lucy?" he insisted, returning to their previous discussion.

"Because...I-I've done this before... When I broke up wit' Tristan, it were because 'e hit me, remember? When my friends found out, they took me to t' police station and 'ad me report it."

"And what happened?"

"Nowt. We went t' court, and were forced to remember every detail of t' memory, but I jus' wanted to forget it all. After three hours, we left, an' it were as if it'd never happened."

"Lucy, there are more charges against him now than were against Tristan at the time, and it's likely he'll receive a sentence."

"Aye, but still..."

"Lucy, it's for the best."

She was still reluctant, but finally agreed, "Aye..."

She gave her account of what happened to the officers, both when he abused her and when he tried to apologize, forced to be honest about how Alfendi interrupted and began yelling at him. They didn't try to pull Deirdre in for a statement as Alfendi insisted, knowing she wouldn't want to talk about it anyways.

After half an hour, they were done and walking out of Scotland Yard.

"Should I go with you t' see 'ow Deirdre's doing?" Lucy asked.

"No...I think it'll be okay. But I'll call you if she wants to talk to you instead," his lighter-haired side answered.

"Okay..." She was hesitant to leave, even if Alfendi would call her if she wanted to talk to her.

"Can you call me when you get home though, so I know you're safe?" Alfendi asked.

"Aye, I will." The two were slow to leave, but eventually parted ways to their own flats after exchanging goodbyes.

Arriving home, Lucy called Alfendi to let him know she was okay and had made it home safely, before quickly eating something and heading to bed, though her mind was full of thoughts, worried about Deirdre.

Alfendi was just outside his flat when he received the call, having rushed home to check on his sister. After answering the phone and talking to Lucy for a moment, they hung up and he went inside.

"Deirdre?" he called through the small apartment. "Deirdre?"

He walked around the flat, before hearing her muffled crying. Knowing it would be more appropriate for his other side to talk to her, his crimson-haired side took over and followed the sound, arriving at the bathroom, the door locked.

"Deirdre?" he asked, knocking on the door. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

She didn't answer, only continuing to cry.

"Deirdre, can I come in?" he called through the door.

Not hearing an objection, he found a screwdriver to unlock the door with, and opened it, seeing his sister sitting on the floor, her back against the wall opposite the door, arms crossed over her knees, her shoulders shaking with every sob. He went in, sitting next to her.

"Why are you crying?"

She still didn't respond, and he wrapped an arm around her and let her lean against him, only seeming to make her cry harder.

"Deirdre, what's wrong?"

Finally composing herself enough to talk, she pulled away from him and he removed his arm. She wiped her eyes, not looking up at him, and answered with a sniffle, "N-nothing...n-nothing's wrong..."

"Then why are you crying?"

"I-it's just...what you s-said earlier...," she began, her voice cracking as fresh tears welled in her eyes again. "I-it reminded me of...before..."

"Before what?"

"Before, i-in California a-and when we were l-living with Dad..."

He remembered that, yet didn't know how what he'd said would remind her of it. "How did it remind you of that?"

"W-what you said t-to Luce...i-its just..." Her voice cracked again, shaking as she began crying again.

"Y-you haven't said anything l-like that since...since b-before you left me...a-and when I was little..." Her voice broke again and she buried her head in her arms again, crying.

That's when he realized exactly why she was crying. She had always been mad at him for leaving her in California, for causing everything that had happened after -everything she kept secret from him. She'd always seen him differently after that, acting differently towards him since then, and he'd noticed right from the start, when she'd first called him asking for a ride, when she'd first snapped at him, argued with him.

His statement to Lucy was a reminder of the past to her, and he could tell how confused she was about him, not knowing how to act towards him, which was clear by the fact that she wasn't trying to hide her emotions this time, as they never did before.

After a few silent moments, he asked gently, "But...why are you _crying_?"

She lifted her head, wiping her eyes. "I-I guess...I-I'm just...shocked...a-and hearing you say stuff like th-that...makes me think I-I was wrong about you...that I-I shouldn't have acted l-like I did t-towards you..."

"I know why you did. I left you without anything but a note saying I was gone..." The reminder caused her to pull her arms to her chest, hands clasped tightly. "I didn't explain any reason for it. You said a lot of horrible things happened after because I left, and you weren't wrong to act like that towards me."

"But I mean...all we've really done s-since I got here...is argue...except when we're talking about L-Luce... I feel like...that's all my fault..."

"It's not. I never apologized for what happened, that's my fault, that's why we haven't talked at all since you got here, and...," he paused, not knowing if he should continue, before realizing if she were to be open with her emotions, he should do the same, "and honestly, until just a bit ago, when you started crying, I'd forgotten how much I cared about you, and how much I missed you when I left. I never once thought about what I was saying to you. It's not your fault, Deirdre."

"I know, but..." She trailed off, not having anything more to say, before she looked up at him. "I-I'm sorry..."

He looked down at her, confused. "For what?"

"I...," she began, biting her lip and looking away momentarily before continuing. "I didn't come here for a job interview or anything...," she confessed.

The statement confused him. The only reason she'd given for coming was just that: a job interview. "Then why did you come?"

"I...I wanted to come see you again...and talk to you again...we hadn't seen each other for four years."

"Why didn't you tell me that?"

"I don't know... I was still mad at you then...," she answered slowly, looking away as her voice quieted, "I guess I felt like you didn't deserve to know..."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders again, and she leaned her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.

The two were silent for a moment, before Alfendi spoke again, not moving.

"I missed this, Deirdre."

"Me too."

They were silent again, simply enjoying the moment, until something came to Alfendi's mind.

"Deirdre, remember when you told me you had spaces in your memory?"

Her eyes opened, and she bit her lip, before replying, "Yeah...?"

"Does that still happen? Has it happened recently?"

She quickly thought back through her memories, and lifted her head. "It...happened last when we were at the hospital, the day Luce woke up," she answered quietly.

"Do you know what causes it?"

"I think...just an overwhelming amount of reminders of...you leaving. Or being alone, like I was then."

"I'm really sorry about leaving you. I didn't want to...and when I was first here, I missed you a lot."

"I know...I missed you too," she repeated, eyes filling with tears.

He was silent for a moment, before asking, "What caused it at the hospital?"

"What...? Oh...," she realized, remembering the cause all too vividly. "I-I...don't really want to talk about it...but I promise I'll tell you at some point."

"Okay." He didn't try to press the question if she didn't want to talk, and she did say she would tell him.

They were quiet again, before Deirdre asked, "What are we going to tell Luce?"

"What do you mean?"

"She's going to ask why we're not arguing, isn't she?"

"Oh...well we'll figure it out then," he answered, the same as what he always used to tell her.

"Okay," she replied, a smile tugging at her lips. It was just like old times.

The next morning, the siblings' routine started to become like that of when it was just the two of them in California, yet they would leave at the same time, both going to the Mystery Room.

After the night before, they were much closer and more trusting of each other.

Walking into the office, Lucy could already tell something was different. There was no tense atmosphere as she entered, no yelling or arguing. Just peace and quiet as they worked.

And along with that, they both greeted her when she walked in -no silent treatment being given by one to the other, no angry glares or scowls towards the other.

But most surprising of all was that, knowing neither was mad at the other, the fact that Potty Prof was there.

"What's going on?" she asked after entering and realizing the difference.

"What?" Deirdre asked.

"All of this. You're not arguin', you're not mad at each other...," she trailed off, gesturing with her hands desperately, not knowing how else to explain the change.

"Oh..." Deirdre looked back at her brother, hoping he would provide an explanation.

"Well, last night, after you hung up the phone, I went and talked to Deirdre, right?"

"Aye."

"It's about why she was crying, really."

Lucy looked at Deirdre, asking, "Why were ya crying? You jus' ran off."

"Yeah...I usually prefer to be alone...," she explained, avoiding the question.

"Why were you cryin' though?" Lucy repeated.

"It was because of what I said," Alfendi answered, noticing Deirdre didn't want to herself. "It just...reminded her a lot of when we were younger." He glanced over to make sure it was alright that he was telling Lucy all this. Seeing no signs of objection, he continued, making sure it was clear to Deirdre she could cut in and explain herself if she wished.

"When we were talking after you called me, she told me about how she'd only heard me say anything similar to what I said to you when she was younger and we were living under the same roof. We talked, and because of that, we're more like we were before."

"We never actually used to argue or anything like that, Luce, even though that's probably what it seems like," Deirdre explained, looking up at her. "That really only started...when I called for a ride home from the airport... And, " she looked away in hesitation, not knowing if Lucy even remembered or cared, "sorry for being so rude to you then...I was just upset with Ally at the time, and started screaming at you...and cussed at you..."

"It's nowt. We still became friends int' end," Lucy replied, sending her a quick smile. "But why did you get so upset at me calling 'im 'Prof'?"

"It's...complicated. I mean, mostly it's just...neither of us had a good relationship with our dad... Since he was a professor, a lot of people referred to him as 'Professor', so..."

"Oh, okay."

The room went quiet, an awkward silence where no one knew what to say or do.

Then Lucy spoke, asking Alfendi, "'Ow many cases do we 'ave left?"

He glanced over to the now smaller stack of files that have yet to be completed. "I would say...about ten more."

"Well, then we'd better get started!" she announced, pulling a file off the stack and putting it into the Reconstruction Machine as Deirdre and Alfendi returned to the cases they were working on before.

After several hours, Deirdre's phone began ringing.

"Hello? ... Yeah? ... Oh, um," she paused, biting her lip, before continuing, "I don't really know... ... Oh, okay... Maybe...one week then? ... Okay. See you then. ... Love you too, bye."

"Who were tha'?"

"Just...," she hesitated, glancing at her brother, also looking at her curiously, before looking away again, "no one."

* * *

_Who do you think she was talking to? Post in the comments!_

_-girlycathy_


	21. Hidden Pasts

20: Hidden Pasts

* * *

_Previously:_

_"Hello? ... Yeah? ... Oh, um," she paused, biting her lip, before continuing, "I don't really know... ... Oh, okay... Maybe...one week then? ... Okay. See you then. ... Love you too, bye."_

_"Who were tha'?"_

_"Just...," she hesitated, glancing at her brother, also looking at her curiously, before looking away again, "no one."_

* * *

The work day continued as normal, and the three left around six, off to their apartments.

At Alfendi's apartment, the siblings ate dinner, silent aside from the clinking of forks against plates, when Deirdre spoke up, not looking up from her plate.

"Ally, I...I have to leave...in a week. A week from today."

"Is that what the phone call was about?" his calmer side asked.

She nodded slightly, not looking up at him.

"Who was it?"

"It doesn't matter," she answered quickly.

He didn't continue asking, so they ate quietly, before separating, each going through their normal routine individually before going to sleep.

The next day, Deirdre told Lucy she was leaving, and that night the three of them went out to eat together, talking during the entire meal and simply enjoying themselves, free of the stress of cases waiting back at the office.

A few days later, Lucy suggested the two of them go out and get to know each other better. Most of the time Deirdre had spent in the city, Lucy was either comatose or had lost her memory, and even afterwards they were too busy to talk, trying to make up for old cases sitting in the office.

Alfendi walked Deirdre to Lucy's house, shocking her with the sight of Potty Prof standing behind Deirdre. The siblings exchanged a quick hug, before Deirdre went inside and Alfendi went to the Mystery Room to work on the cases they had yet to completely catch up on.

The two girls went out for the entire day, not returning until late that evening. They talked, sharing past experiences and telling jokes, finding things they didn't realize they shared in common.

The day before Deirdre had to leave, Alfendi took her out to dinner, wanting to spend the last night with his sister, catching up on everything he'd missed with her while they were apart and when they'd wasted time arguing.

"Deirdre, who," Alfendi's calmer side hesitated, unsure of if she was planning to tell him or not, "who called, a week ago?"

She stared down at her plate, untouched, hands under the table.

"It...it doesn't...," she began, before changing her words, "I'll...I'll tell you later..."

He let out a silent breath, unnoticed to her. He had been hoping she would tell him, or at least give some clue as to who it was.

"Why don't you eat something? I hardly see you eat anything."

"Same for you," she muttered under her breath.

He barely heard her, shocked at the harsh tone of her voice. He switched personalities, hoping she would talk to him more that way. It appeared as though it would work, as she seemed to relax slightly at the change, glancing up at him before looking down again.

"What is going on?" he asked, confused.

She let out a breath. "I just...I don't...want to leave..."

"But why are you acting so...closed off?"

"I...I just...I feel like...if...," she began, trying to create a coherent thought, her eyes welling with tears, "if we're more distanced...it...it won't be as hard...to leave..."

The statement surprised him. He hadn't realized how happy she was to be in London with him once they had reconnected, or that she would miss him just as much as he would miss her when she left.

"Why did you think that?"

"Because...before, we were really close...and then you left...a-and..." She couldn't finish her sentence, trying to take a breath so she wouldn't start crying, though the tears were already filling her eyes, a few beginning to slip down her cheeks.

"I know, and I'm _really_ sorry for that, but...being farther apart doesn't mean leaving will be any easier," he replied.

She took a shaky breath, still trying to stop the tears, answering, "I know..."

"But we can at least text and call each other. You have my phone number, right?"

"I think...from when you called me, when Luce was in the hospital a few nights back."

"So we can still contact each other. You won't be alone when you leave, I'm always here for you."

She glanced up at him, seeing his caring expression and warm smile and letting a small smile spread across her lips, wiping away her tears.

"Thanks, Ally..."

He chuckled. "You still haven't given up on that nickname, have you?"

She laughed, before replying with a smile, "Nope. That'll always be my name for you."

They continued talking and eating, before going back to Alfendi's flat.

Deirdre had to pack, quickly tossing all of her things into her suitcase.

He didn't help her pack, as she said she didn't need any, but was in the room when she did. As she started by going to the bathroom to brush her teeth before packing her toothbrush, he caught a glimpse of a very familiar photograph in a very unfamiliar picture frame.

It was a picture of the two of them, when Deirdre was six. Before he had left, when they were still close, when she would always ask to do things with him. In the picture, they were at the park, and Flora had captured the moment without their knowledge, later giving it to them to keep. Alfendi had intentionally left the picture on her bed the both times he had left, knowing how heartbroken she would be, and she had brought it with her wherever she went.

In the picture, he was tickling her, the two of them laying on the grass. She was laughing, smiling where all her teeth were visible, and he was laughing with her, the two happy without any worries or drama to get in the way.

"You still have the picture," he commented as she walked back into the room.

She glanced in, seeing the photograph. "Oh...yeah, I...I haven't gone anywhere without it," she replied with a sheepish smile, moving to the kitchen to grab a ziplock bag to put her toothbrush in.

"But what happened to the original frame?"

"Oh, I...i-it broke...the glass was shattered and the frame cracked, so I-I bought a new one..."

"How did it break?"

"It...fell..."

He didn't continue to question it, but told her, "I'm glad you kept it."

She seemed to release a breath of relief, before agreeing, "Me too. I'm really glad Flora took it, I really like it." She continued to look at it for a moment before tossing her toothbrush into the suitcase before kneeling to collect some of her clothes to pack into the suitcase.

Reminded of the past, when they were living together before, he asked, "Hey, do you happen to still have the gift I gave you when you were thirteen? The pocketknife?"

She tensed up for a moment, and stopped tossing clothes into the suitcase momentarily.

"Um...no, I...I don't have it anymore," she answered slowly, avoiding looking at him as she continued gathering clothes.

"What happened to it?"

"I-I...lost it," she replied hesitantly, unable to look at him.

"You lost it?" he asked curiously, knowing she didn't lose things easily.

"Mhm," she nodded, biting her lip.

He knew she was lying, but she obviously didn't want to tell him the truth. "If you want, I can get you another one," he offered, unknowing of why she was lying.

She shook her head almost immediately. "No, it's fine. I-I don't need another one, I'm fine," she answered.

"Alright."

They were silent as Deirdre tossed the rest of her clothes into the suitcase before zipping it up. "Done," she stated, letting out a breath as she sat down on her legs on the floor.

"What do you want to do?" Alfendi asked.

"I don't know..." It was silent again, neither one knowing what to say.

"Well you're leaving tomorrow, what time is the flight?"

"Um...," she paused, checking her phone. "Five o'clock. So you would just drop me off around two."

"I can walk you in and wait with you."

"No, I'm okay."

"Can't I at least walk you in?"

"Ally, I'm not a child anymore," she replied with a smile. "I made it here alone, and I'll be fine going back."

"Alright, fine," he conceded with a laugh. "Then what do you want to do before you leave?"

"Umm..." She glanced away, thinking, before realizing something and looking back at him. "How did you get your split personality? I've always meant to ask, just...didn't get around to it till now."

"Oh, it's a long story..."

"Tell me," she insisted eagerly.

He went on to tell her the entire story, including being comatose for several months and being brainwashed by Justin.

"How does that even work?" she asked when he was finished.

"I don't know. But either way it did something, though it didn't work in the long run."

"Yeah..."

"Did anything happen to you that I missed?"

She looked down, slightly laughing in nervousness. "Did anything happen to me?" she repeated, her eyebrows raising, before lowering as she continuing, "Yeah...a lot of stuff."

"What happened?"

"Well you already know about the memory gaps..."

"What else?"

She thought through what had happened after he had left.

"What happened to your wrists?" he asked suddenly, not waiting for an answer to his previous question.

"Huh?" she asked, glancing down at them. "Oh...nothing."

"Why do you wear gloves? You never used to."

"I just...like them," she answered, looking away as she spoke. "I dunno."

"But before when I grabbed your wrist, you nearly started crying."

She vaguely remembered the event, when the two of them were discussing something outside of the Mystery Room. "It was just...sensitive."

"Why?"

She was silent for a moment, before answering slowly. "So...back in California...after you left...there was an incident. I hurt my wrist really badly, and was in the hospital for a few weeks because of it."

"What happened?"

"I...can't talk about it."

He didn't continue asking, instead changing the subject. "It's almost eight o'clock, if you want to do something we should do it now."

She looked up, glancing out the window to see it was dark, suddenly remembering the last time she was out alone in the dark, the occasion having already been in her mind.

She bit her lip, holding back her sobs until she felt the skin break and tasted blood. A cry escaped from her lips as more memories came to mind and she pulled her knees in front of her, burying her head in her arms, crying.

"Deirdre? What's wrong?" Alfendi asked, not knowing what had just happened. He knelt by his sister, sitting next to her and wrapping his arm around her, letting her lean on him.

Her crying seemed to lessen when he wrapped his arm around her, the gesture comforting her, somewhat pulling her back into reality.

"What's wrong, Deirdre?" he asked.

She wiped away her tears, looking down. "I just...was reminded of stuff..."

"What stuff?"

"Just...things from California...after you left...it's nothing."

"If you were crying, it's not nothing."

"I know...but I don't want to talk about it."

"It'll help," he told her, wanting to know why she was crying.

"I mean...I've talked about it before, just...I don't want to tell you about it...yet... I will, though...just not now."

She glanced up slightly, and Alfendi saw the blood on her lip.

"Your lip is bleeding," he noted.

She nodded, acknowledging the fact but not doing anything, trying to ignore the reminder.

He removed his arm from around her and stood, walking down the hall. She glanced up, seeing him leave, her eyes filling with tears as she couldn't ignore the blood welling from the cut on her lip, a drop slipping down and dripping off her chin and onto her hand, reminding her too closely of a past event.

He returned with a damp washcloth, sitting beside her again. "Let me remove the blood, Deirdre."

He tilted her head up enough so he could wipe off the blood, before placing the cloth on the coffee table. He knew why it was bleeding —she had a tendency to bite her lip to stop from crying, sometimes hard enough that it started bleeding —just like this time. It wasn't a surprise, but he still couldn't tell why she was crying at all.

"Why don't you want to tell me what happened?"

"I just...don't know how you'll react and...I don't want to know right now..."

He wanted to know what had happened, but didn't want to force her to talk about it if she didn't want to, and she planned to tell him at some point, so he simply responded with, "Alright."

They were silent again, until Deirdre's phone buzzed. She pulled it out, glancing at it, before saying, "Oh...I actually have to be there earlier tomorrow...before twelve."

"Why?"

"I...just...I read it wrong...," she answered slowly, not looking at him. "The flight leaves at two, not later like I thought."

"Then what was the message?"

"It was, um...a reminder. To pack."

"At eight thirty?"

"Well, it's earlier in California..."

He could tell she was lying, but didn't point it out, letting it pass.

The next day he drove her to the airport, dropping her off at the front as she requested. As he pulled her luggage from the car, she wrapped him in a hug and hugged him tightly, and he returned it with a smile.

"I-I'm gonna miss you..."

"Me too." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, making her smile, and as she stepped away from him, she wiped away tears that had formed.

"I-I'll see you soon, right?"

"Yes, and call me when you land."

She nodded, "I will. See you later."

"See you." She turned and walked towards the building, carrying her suitcase as he drove off, driving back to the Mystery Room.


	22. Author Note

pre style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: auto; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro'; font-size: 16px; margin-top: 12px; margin-bottom: 21px; line-height: 21px; color: #555555; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"Alright, I know a lot of people do 'rewritten's, but I think I'm the first to do a rewritten rewritten. I know it must be getting tedious, the fact that I keep going back and trying to rewrite, but seeing as I won't be able to update soon anyways (such horrible writers block combined with "I can't write this next part without it being shitty and terrible") I thought might as well take some time to edit and rewrite so I continue to work, rather than forgetting it all. The storyline most likely won't change, but it'll hopefully be better written. I feel like my characters aren't well developed, like they're just puppets without a purpose, and so I hope to make my writing more...not predictable, but realistic or plausible, and the dialogue and actions of the characters more purposeful and realistic. I'm hoping if I can manage this throughout most of my story, I'll be able to write the next part through my characters, rather than forcing them into something unrealistic in an unrealistically horribly shitty way. So anyways, point is, I'm rewriting again. I won't remove the current version until I've caught the rewritten version up, but I think I'll be creating a new story. I'll send another message out when I start it -I doubt it'll be soon, along with I think I'll do all the chapters before I post, adding touch-up edits before each chapter goes up, but I really feel like I need to analyze the characters more indepth to be able to portray them well, which will likely take awhile. Thank you all for your patience, and I apologize for my indecisiveness and inability to not stick with something./pre 


End file.
